ISRAELI OCCUPIED AND STARVED GAZA, 31 Oct. - (ANA) - With tears, Saeed Tazaza from Jenin reviewed photos of the bodies of prisoners and martyrs from the Gaza Strip that Israel handed over as part of the recent ceasefire agreement. He recalled the body of his son, Ahmed, who is still being held.

 

Under the 'ceasefire' agreement, Israel handed over 150 bodies of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip who were arrested or killed after 7 October 2023. However, only 25 of these bodies have been identified due to the severe disfigurement resulting from torture and harsh conditions in Israeli detention.

 

The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that the bodies bore signs of abuse, beatings, handcuffing, and blindfolding, making identification more difficult.

 

For its part, Hamas handed over 13 bodies of dead Israeli prisoners held in Gaza. Some 15 bodies are still being searched for, given Israel's refusal to allow the entry of heavy equipment and digging tools into the besieged coastal enclave.

 

 

 

 

Ahmed Tazaza, a young man from Jenin, was arrested in late 2024 after his home was raided. He wasn't home that day, so he assumed the Israeli army wanted to interrogate him.

 

His father, Saeed, described to The New Arab that the day after his home was raided, he took his son Ahmed to an Israeli military camp, thinking it was just a quick interview. Instead, he was arrested and placed in administrative detention for six months.

 

After the six months were up, the detention was renewed for another six months. Three months later, the family received a call from the Palestinian Liaison Office informing them that he had died in Israeli prison.

 

"Ahmed was my youngest son, only 20 years old. One of the prisoners from Jenin was released from prison and told us that he was in the same room with him in Megiddo Prison, and that the prison guards unleashed unmuzzled police dogs on my son to tear his face apart," said his father.

 

After this assault, Ahmed suffered from bleeding, complications, and infections without receiving any treatment in prison despite his repeated requests. He died on 3 August, suffering from deliberate medical neglect, even though a lawyer was supposed to visit him on 8 August.

 

"The assault didn't happen just once. According to the testimonies of released prisoners, police dog attacks occurred daily against prisoners, and Ahmed was one of them," Saeed added.

 

The published photos of the bodies of prisoners from the Gaza Strip killed in Israeli prisons reopened the families' wounds, as they remembered their sons whose bodies have yet to be returned and who know neither the conditions of their detention, their whereabouts, nor any information about them.

 

"What we witnessed is truly heartbreaking and makes us wonder about the circumstances of Ahmed's death, as he had no health problems before his arrest. Unfortunately, no one is providing us any information, and we don't know anything about him or whether his body will be returned or not," he continued with evident sadness.

 

 

 

 

The National Campaign for the Recovery of the Bodies of Palestinian Martyrs said in a statement Thursday that Israel is still holding the bodies of 735 documented martyrs in its cemeteries and morgues, some of whom have been held for decades.

 

Among them are 86 killed in Israeli prisons, of which 10 are women and 67 are children, in addition to hundreds of undocumented individuals, particularly in the Gaza Strip, about whom Israel refuses to disclose any details.

 

Abdul Hamid Abu Surur, 23, from the Aida refugee camp north of Bethlehem, was killed by Israel in April 2016 and is considered one of the oldest Palestinians whose bodies are held by Israel.

 

Amidst all these scenes, his mother, Azhar, browses social media and delves into photos of the returned bodies, hoping to find her son, despite her prior knowledge that he was buried in what are called the "cemeteries of numbers."

 

These cemeteries raise concerns among human rights organisations because they are anonymous spaces inside Israel, established to bury Palestinians after they were killed, and their bodies are held in inhumane conditions without names. Each body is given a number and buried near the surface, left to weather changes and wild animals.

 

"The scenes we saw were cruel. They made us wonder what they did to our sons' bodies, how they were buried, how long they remained in the morgues, and how they were transferred to these cemeteries. These questions haunt our minds and leave us unable to think," Azhar told TNA.

 

Abdul Hamid's mother receives numerous calls inquiring about her son's body and its return. Although this is a stage that reopens old wounds, it has also provided a window of hope for hundreds of Palestinian families awaiting the return of their bodies.

 

"We have been campaigning hard since his death, calling on the entire world to pressure Israel so that we can bury him properly and say our final goodbyes. But no one did anything, and we remained trapped in this deep pain. Now the issue is back in the spotlight, and we are all hopeful that it will be resolved and that we can bury our wounds," she added.

 

 

 

 

Hamas considered Israel's return of the Palestinian bodies in this manner a violation of the recent agreement. They showed signs of being strangled or crushed under heavy vehicles, confirming that they were executed while prisoners.

 

Human rights organisations that issued several statements regarding the return of the bodies in this manner estimated that Israel is still holding more than 450 bodies of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

 

Hilmi al-Araj, director of the Hurriyat Centre for Civil Rights, told TNA that these scenes are horrifying and disturbing, and constitute a war crime among the most heinous crimes, as they constitute extrajudicial executions.

 

Israel had no time to conceal its crime, but instead publicly declared it, mutilating the bodies and prisoners before executing them and handing them over to their families without identifying them due to the deplorable conditions of the bodies, he said.

 

"There is a suspicion of organ theft, as reported by the official medical authorities who received the bound bodies, which clearly indicates the execution and transfer of those executed without any concern for accountability or attempt to hide the crime," he added.

 

Al-Araj considered this a message to the world that this is an occupation that commits all war crimes against humanity and commits genocide without hesitation because it considers itself above the law and accountability. Still, the Palestinians won't forget these crimes and will prosecute them.

 

Under the truce, Israel is to return 15 Palestinian remains for every deceased Israeli hostage returned by Hamas. Friday's transfer brings the number returned to Gaza to 225.  -(ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/31 October 2025 - - -