Gaza civil defense bury 80 unidentified Palestinians after Israel delivers body bags to Karam Abu Salem

Israeli authorities returned the bodies of 80 deceased Palestinians to the Gaza Strip on Monday after its forces seized them in ground incursions it conducted during the ten months of its aggression on the coastal enclave.

Khan Younis’ Civil Defense director Abu Suleiman told Mada Masr that the bodies were buried in Gaza on Monday in a mass grave, as it was impossible to establish their identities.

They were already in a state of decomposition, he said, adding that Occupation forces refused to share the names of the deceased or the areas from which they were kidnapped.

Israeli authorities reportedly returned the bodies after confirming that they did not belong to any of the 111 prisoners still thought to be held by the resistance factions in Gaza.

The 80 Palestinians were delivered via the Karam Abu Salem crossing between Gaza and Israeli-held territory to members of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, according to reports. The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said they were subsequently taken to the Turkish Burial Site in Khan Younis, sharing footage of officials working to transfer the bodies from the border and prepare them for burial.

Suleiman said they were delivered in 15 bags, each containing three or four bodies, and that they were separated from each other before burial.

Dozens of Palestinians who lost family members during the Israeli aggression came to the burial site hoping to find their loved ones among the bodies, which arrived in a cargo truck, according to a Mada Masr correspondent who was present at the burial site.

"I came to calm my heart," Umm Mohamed told Mada Masr. She arrived at the mass grave to search for her two children, Mohamed and Ibrahim Fatiha, after she lost contact with them around a month ago. She searched for them at the Civil Defense Directorate, the Health Ministry and with the police, looking among the unidentified bodies that the Occupation released, hoping to identify her sons. She said she had not found them yet.

Mahmoud Nashasi, whose son was killed months ago, told Mada Masr that he came to Khan Younis to search for his body. He said his deceased son disappeared during the Occupation forces invasion of Khan Younis, a story shared by many other residents and displaced people who buried loved ones in Khan Younis and fled during the January invasion of the city, only to later find the bodies vanished following Israel’s withdrawal from the southern city in April.

Nashasi said that Occupation forces stole the child from his grave, and the family, who were later displaced due to the Occupation's incursion at that time, have not been able to find him since.

39,623 Palestinians have been killed and another 91,469 injured by Israeli forces since October, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said on Monday.