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Gaza: Israel returns dozens of exhumed bodies

Israel returns dozens of exhumed bodies as Gaza aid blocked for seventh day
MENA
14 min read
30 January, 2024
The hospital raid comes as Israeli forces continue near nightly raids across the occupied West Bank since 7 October, killing at least 307 Palestinians.

Palestinians buried dozens of bodies in a mass grave in southern Gaza on Tuesday, after officials said Israel returned remains it had exhumed from the territory.

Gazans were moving the bodies in blue plastic shrouds from a truck towards the newly dug mass grave east of Rafah.

Health ministry employees wearing white protective clothing lowered them into the ground, near the tents of people displaced by Israel's onslaught.

A Palestinian source at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt told AFP the bodies returned had been "stolen by the occupation (Israeli) army during its incursion" into Gaza.

A second source told AFP that Israel "stole them from Bani Suheila cemetery, east of Khan Yunis" around two weeks ago.

Continued Israeli airstrikes across Gaza killed dozens of Palestinians, with one air strike in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City killing at least 20 people, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Since 7 October Israel's war on Gaza has killed 26,751 Palestinians, with a further 65,636 wounded according to Gaza's health authorities. At least 370 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have also been killed.