News - Middle East: Gaza’s Health Ministry has strongly condemned the horrific crimes committed by Israeli forces against Palestinian abductees whose bodies have been returned by the regime.

The ministry issued the statement on Monday after Israel returned 45 bodies of Palestinian abductees.

The ministry said the recovered bodies show the victims were brutally killed and mutilated.

It added that some abductees’ faces were burned to conceal their identities, and their internal organs were savagely torn apart.

The ministry also criticized human rights organizations and international courts for remaining silent on the regime’s violations.

It stated that the mutilated bodies of Palestinian abductees remain a testament to the global hypocrisy and disgraceful international silence in the face of Israeli crimes.

The Palestinian ministry stressed that medical teams and families of the abductees are facing immense challenges in identifying the bodies due to the extreme mutilation, torture, and abuse, with clear signs of brutal treatment visible on the remains.

Since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, the Hamas resistance movement has released 20 living Israeli captives and returned 20 bodies.

In response, Israel has released 250 Palestinian prisoners serving long sentences and an additional 1,718 prisoners arrested in Gaza following the onset of the conflict on October 7, 2023.

Palestinian families have been identifying the remains of their loved ones returned from Israel, which were sent back without identification, by using physical features or recognizable clothing.

Forensic facilities in Gaza are no longer operational due to the prolonged Israeli blockade and the destruction of essential laboratories.

According to the Palestinian National Campaign to Retrieve Martyrs’ Bodies, Israel had been holding 735 Palestinian bodies in what are referred to as “cemeteries of numbers” prior to the ceasefire.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the Israeli army is currently holding approximately 1,500 Palestinian bodies from Gaza at the Sde Teiman military base in the southern region of the occupied territory.

Since October 2023, more than 68,800 people—primarily women and children—have been killed, and over 170,600 others have been injured in the Israeli war on Gaza.

Source: Press TV