The Civil Service of the enclave reports 10 thousand missing under ruined buildings, in almost a year of offensive
▲ Palestinians wait for food at a relief point in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip.Photo Xinhua
Reuters, Europa Press and Sputnik
The newspaper La Jornada
Thursday, September 26, 2024, p. 30
Cairo. Israel yesterday returned the bodies of 88 Palestinians killed during its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which the enclave’s health ministry refused to bury until Tel Aviv provided details about their identity and where they were killed.
The bodies arrived in a container through an Israeli-controlled crossing, but Palestinian officials said no information was provided about the names or ages of the victims or where they were killed.
Health officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis refused to accept and bury them, and urged the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to request details from Israel.
The Ministry of Health stopped the procedures to receive the container (which was transporting the corpses) until all the data and information about these bodies is complete so that their relatives can identify them.he said in a statement.
Ismail Thawabta, head of the communications office for the Hamas-run Gaza government, said ministry officials told the truck driver to return the bodies to the Israeli border crossing where he had arrived. The truck loaded with the container then left the hospital.
They must act in accordance with international humanitarian law and in a way that preserves the dignity of the martyrs and their families.Thawabta told Reuters news agency.
Under international humanitarian law, people who have died during an armed conflict must be treated with dignity and receive appropriate treatment. The law requires that they be searched for, collected and evacuated, which helps ensure that people do not disappear, the ICRC added in a statement.
The Civil Emergency Service, which is tasked with finding missing people under rubble, on roads and in ruined buildings in Gaza, says it has been notified of around 10,000 people missing during Israel’s nearly year-long assault on Gaza.
Gaza health authorities have confirmed more than 41,495 Palestinians were killed and 96,000 wounded or maimed in the assault, which Israel launched after Hamas fighters attacked Israeli towns on Oct. 7 last year, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostages, according to Israeli counts.
Yesterday alone, the Israel Defense Forces reported that more than 40 Hamas members were eliminated in 24 hours. The dead are field commanders and members of several units of the Hamas terrorist group, including its rocket division and its propaganda unit.the forces’ spokesperson detailed.
In this context, James Elder, spokesman for the United Nations Children’s Fund, regretted that the situation in Lebanon is overshadowing the crisis in the Gaza Strip, where Tel Aviv has not given any respite with its military offensive.
