Israel returns Palestinian bodies showing signs of torture and execution
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza received dozens of bodies handed over by Israel on 15 October 2025
Mohammed al-Hajjar and Mera Aladam report in Middle East Eye on 15 October 2025:
Bodies of Palestinians returned by Israel show signs of torture, execution and being run over by tanks, Middle East Eye has learned.
Israel handed over the unidentified remains of around 45 individuals to Gaza on Tuesday as part of its prisoner exchange agreement with Hamas.
A source at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, which received the bodies via the International Committee of the Red Cross, told MEE that some of the deceased were recently killed, while others arrived in a decomposed state or as partial remains.
Several bodies bore signs of severe abuse, including strangulation marks, broken bones and mutilation. Some were found with their hands and feet bound and their eyes blindfolded. Others were missing limbs. The source added that some of the bodies are believed to belong to individuals killed on 7 October 2023, after being run over by Israeli tanks.
An additional 45 bodies were returned on Wednesday and are yet to be examined, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The handover of bodies comes under the terms of the ceasefire agreement reached on Friday to end the war on Gaza and exchange prisoners and remains.
On Monday, Hamas released 20 living Israeli captives in exchange for around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The Palestinian movement has since released seven out of a total of 28 deceased Israeli captives, with the rest expected to be handed over once located and recovered.
In return, Israel has so far released 90 Palestinian bodies it had withheld before, during and after the war. A total of around 400 Palestinian bodies are expected to be returned as part of the exchange.
‘Cemeteries of numbers’
Israel has long maintained a policy of withholding the bodies of Palestinians and other Arabs, dating back to 1948. Dozens are buried in what are known as “cemeteries of numbers”, marked only by numerical identifiers.