Israel slammed for sending 88 unidentifiable bodies of Palestinians to Gaza

Gaza authorities refuse to accept ‘inhumane’ shipment of bodies, saying Israel must provide data about their identities.

Relatives of Hussam al-Ejla grieve before his funeral at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health has refused to receive a container carrying the bodies of 88 Palestinians sent from Israel without prior coordination or information about their identities.

The procedures for receiving the container were suspended until Israel provides full data with the victims’ names, time of death and the location they were taken from, the ministry said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app on Wednesday.

This is “the minimum rights of these people and their families”, it said.

Gaza’s Government Media Office called the shipment of unidentifiable bodies an “inhumane and criminal move”, in a separate statement.

Reporting from central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said “the bodies are unidentifiable because they are mostly decomposed”.

“There are signs that those bodies have been in Israel for a long time,” he said.