The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the inhumane and shocking condition in which the Israeli authorities handed over 165 unidentified bodies, after holding them, to the Ministry of Health (MOH) in the Gaza Strip as part of the ceasefire agreement.
According to the MOH and information collected by PCHR’s field staff from the Forensic Department, the MOH received through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) 165 bodies in six batches, which were later transferred to Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis. No information was provided regarding their identities or the circumstances of their deaths. External examinations revealed that some of the bodies bore signs indicating possible abuse, tied hands and blindfolds. All the bodies arrived in a state of severe distortion or decomposition, placed inside plastic bags mixed with dirt and debris. By this, Israel has violated the sanctity of the dead and human dignity, in a flagrant breach of international humanitarian law, which obliges parties to an armed conflict to respect the dead and treat them in a manner that preserves their humanity.
Dr. Ahmed Dheir, Chief of the Committee and Director of Forensic Medicine at Nasser Complex, told PCHR’s field researcher that, due to the lack of DNA testing capabilities and limited resources, only external examinations were conducted on the bodies, as there are no laboratories, refrigerators, or ambulances available for their transfer. He added that the ICRC provided some ice-cream freezers to store the bodies, as the forensic medicine department at the hospital has only one small room for work and rest.
It should be noted that MOH uploaded photos of the bodies it received on a dedicated online link to enable families to identify them, in the absence of technical means to determine their identities. So far, only 25 bodies have been identified.
It is worth mentioning also that dozens of detainees from the Gaza Strip have died under torture in Israeli prisons and military sites used as detention centers, where they were subjected to torture, starvation, and medical neglect. As a result, dozens of them died, and their bodies remain in Israeli custody.
Over the past two years, IOF have attacked cemeteries, hospital courtyards, and markets where victims were buried, either collectively or individually. Similar incidents occurred in most of the hospitals that were raided, particularly al-Shifa and Nasser Hospitals, where many bodies had been transferred. IOF also exhumed graves in most of the areas they invaded, from Rafah to Beit Hanoun, and transferred the bodies to unknown destinations.
With the start of the IOF’s ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, the phenomenon of enforced disappearances has spread, as IOF arrested thousands of Palestinians and concealed any information about them. As a result, the fate of thousands remains unknown to their families. This situation has been exacerbated by Israel’s continued refusal to disclose their whereabouts or fate, as reflected in the way the bodies were recently returned. Such conduct entrenches the crime of enforced disappearance and deepens the suffering of the families of the missing and forcibly disappeared.
This comes at a time when the tragedy of thousands of people missing under the rubble of houses and buildings bombed by the IOF in the Gaza Strip continues to worsen, including in areas where the IOF are still deployed. It has become impossible to recover the bodies, either due to the lack of adequate machinery and equipment to remove the tons of rubble or because of the extreme danger in those areas.
PCHR reminds that international humanitarian law obliges parties to an armed conflict to treat the dead who lost their lives during hostilities with respect for their human dignity and to properly manage their bodies by preparing lists of their names, dates, places, and causes of death. International law, particularly Articles (130) and (138) of the Fourth Geneva Convention, further requires the occupying power to investigate every case of death, prepare a report determining its causes and those responsible, and return the bodies or remains to the families of the deceased for burial in a dignified manner and in accordance with their religious beliefs and cultural traditions.
It is also required that any items the deceased was carrying prior to death, including money, identification papers, or other personal belongings, be attached to the body. Moreover, Additional Protocol I, in Articles (32), (33), and (34), defines the obligations of the occupying power, including ensuring every family’s right to know the fate of their relatives, searching for the missing and the dead, and recovering and evacuating them in a manner that guarantees they are not left among the missing.
PCHR believes that what has been revealed through the condition of these bodies is not merely a human tragedy, but further evidence of the heinous crimes perpetrated by Israel as part of its ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. This situation requires immediate international intervention to achieve justice for the victims and ensure that those responsible are held accountable and do not enjoy impunity.
In light of the above, PCHR calls on:
