Israel returned the bodies of of 54 slain Palestinians and 66 other boxes of human remains to Gaza on Wednesday, transferring the remains to Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital via the Red Cross, the Strip’s Hamas-run health ministry said.

Medical staff will work to identify the bodies and remains, and to return them to their families, the ministry said.

Israel did not comment on the reported transfer of the remains.

According to a Sunday court filing by the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center, a Palestinian group that has petitioned the High Court for the release of Palestinians’ bodies, Israel holds the bodies of over 700 Palestinians.

The legal group said that the bodies come from both Gaza and the West Bank, and they include hundreds of unidentified people killed by Israel in the Strip during the war since the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023.

Last week, in accordance with the October 9 Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal, Israel handed over the bodies of 15 Gazans, following the retrieval of the body of Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last........

© The Times of Israel