Families ‘inconsolable’ in Gaza as Israel returns more unidentified bodies 

Israel has returned dozens of Palestinian bodies and human remains to Gaza without providing any information about their identities or how they were killed, according to Palestinian medical officials.

The remains arrived at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Wednesday in plain white bags and are now being examined by forensic teams in an effort to identify them and provide answers to grieving families.

“The bags carry the weight of lives lost. Now they’re undergoing examination, prolonging the grief of families desperate for closure,” Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili reported from al-Shifa Hospital on Saturday.

Palestinian medics say several bodies were mutilated.

“The International Committee of the Red Cross handed over 120 body bags containing 54 bodies as well as skull samples placed in 66 separate bags,” forensic official Omar Suleiman told Al Jazeera.

Previous exchanges of Palestinian prisoners’ bodies have revealed extensive signs of abuse, with many showing indications of torture, mutilation and execution.

In November, the rights group Physicians for Human Rights-Israel released a report saying at least 94 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli custody, citing causes including torture, medical neglect, malnutrition and physical assault.

The group said the actual toll could be significantly higher.

For many Palestinians, the search for missing relatives has shifted from streets and rubble to computer screens and improvised identification centres.

At al-Shifa, Shadi al-Fayoumi scrolled through blurred and graphic images, hoping to spot anything recognisable that might tell him what happened to his brothers.

“My brothers have been missing for 10 months. They disappeared in the Tuffah neighbourhood,” al-Fayoumi, whose brothers remain missing, told Al Jazeera.

“I went to al-Shifa Medical Complex, where we were told there were bodies we could try to identify. However, the images were unclear and lacked discernible features. How are we expected to identify them under these conditions?”

According to al-Fayoumi, his brothers had gone in search of food and water during the peak of the famine last year but never returned.

“We contacted multiple institutions, but none was willing to help or provide reliable information,” al-Fayoumi added.

Al Jazeera’s al-Khalili said al-Fayoumi’s mother has been “inconsolable”.

“His brothers’ children are silent, unwilling to voice their worst fears. Israeli forces hand over the bodies of Palestinians with little regard for human dignity,” he added.

“There is no information on how they died or how long they were held, leaving Palestinians with not only their grief but unanswered questions.”