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Wahiba Shabat immediately recognized her son’s body in the photographs. He said, a mother’s heart knows. But when he finally saw her mutilated body, he couldn’t believe it.
israel Handed over her son’s body naked, his hands tied behind his back with zip ties. Marks around her ankles indicated she had also been tied there, Shabat said. His jaw was broken and there was blood in his mouth. He had to feel the scar on the back of her head to confirm it was her.
The body of Mahmoud Shabat was among the remains of 195 Palestinians Released by Israel in the last 10 days. Their handing over is part of the ongoing exchange of the dead Hamas The remains of 28 hostages were gradually returned under the Gaza ceasefire agreement, which also led to the release of all surviving hostages and about 2,000 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
Family At Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, where the bodies were taken, large numbers of people gathered, trying to find out if any of their loved ones missing during the war were among them.
The Israeli military told The Associated Press that all the bodies returned so far were of fighters. The AP could not verify the claim based on examining photographs of the bodies and talking to doctors, experts and families. Several relatives who identified the bodies, including Shabat, said they were not combatants.
Israel did not provide any identification of the bodies and did not allow DNA testing material into Gaza. The bodies are badly decomposed and damaged and it is up to the families to identify their loved ones. Some bodies show signs of possible abuse, including bondage.
Israel’s military said it acted in accordance with international law. Under the ceasefire, Israel agreed to return 15 bodies for every body of one dead hostage.
Stephen Cordner, Emeritus Professor of Forensic Medicine at Monash University, Australia, reviewed some photographs of the bodies and said that some damage may have been caused by the conditions in which the remains were placed – for example, deep depressions may have been caused by the mortuary surfaces where the bodies were placed. But he said tying the wrists behind the bodies “would be unusual” and called for a proper investigation.
“This represents an international forensic emergency,” he said.
Gaza official says fighters included among bodies handed over
Munir al-Bursh, a senior Gaza health ministry official, said many of the bodies handed over appear to be fighters or others killed during the Hamas-led offensive on October 7, 2023, and in the days that followed.
Thousands of militants crossed the border and attacked communities in southern Israel, sparking the war. Other Palestinians also came to support the attack, either to loot homes or out of curiosity after being largely sealed inside Gaza for 16 years. Shabat said his 34-year-old son Mahmoud was also among those fleeing and the family later reported him missing.
Thousands of families in Gaza are searching for their loved ones missing during the war. In addition to the bodies from the October 7 attack, Israel is also believed to be in possession of the remains of other Palestinians – including dozens of doctors – who died in Israeli custody after being detained from Gaza. Israeli soldiers also removed hundreds of bodies from graves in the search for hostages.
None of the bodies were those of those who died in custody, said al-Bursh, whose cousin, Adnan al-Bursh, one of Gaza’s best-known orthopedic surgeons, died in an Israeli prison in April 2024.
A family identified a body as that of a Palestinian who was driving to his laborer job in Israel on 7 October. His family said it appeared he had been shot in the head while in his car. A photograph of his body shows a bullet removed from the remains.
Al-Bursh said Israel was expected to hand over another 200 bodies. Hamas has returned the remains of 15 of the 28 hostages.
Forensic teams are struggling to examine the bodies
Nasser Hospital has one of Gaza’s two remaining refrigerated, functioning morgues; The rest have become useless after Israeli attacks. Dr. Ahmed Dhairya, a senior forensic specialist at Nasser Hospital, said the International Committee of the Red Cross provided several refrigerated trucks.
Officials take photographs of each body, and post them on the health ministry’s website for families to search. Because there is no reliable internet connection for most people in Gaza, officials also show the photos in a shed in the hospital courtyard, where families sit and watch in a roofed makeshift hall.
Most of the bodies have been lying unrecognizable in Israeli morgues for months, covered in mud, blood or snow. Eyes are missing on some. On others, the face is broken or even looks blank, facial features blotched or erased. Some bodies are naked. Photographs focus on scars, birthmarks, or specific clothing or shoes that relatives can identify.
“How can mom, dad or any family member remember what their relative was wearing two years ago?” said Ahmed Massoud, spokesman for the Palestinian Center for the Missing and Enforced Disappeared, which cooperates with the health ministry.
Patience said Israel sent almost no information with the bodies. He said more than 150 of the remains had Israeli serial numbers with the letters “ST”, which officials said could indicate they were held in the morgue of Sde Teiman, a military prison camp in southern Israel. Israeli officials did not respond to questions about the coding.
Four forensic teams examine the bodies, but they have little means to firmly determine the causes of death, he said. In some cases, evidence of gunshot wounds to the head or chest were found, Dhairya said.
The AP reviewed photographs of 162 bodies. At least 49 people appeared to be in military fatigues, indicating they were likely terrorists.
At least 13 had their hands or feet bound with zip ties or handcuffs, with marks on their wrists or ankles showing they had been bound, or with clothing that may have been used to blindfold or gagged them. One body had a colostomy bag; The other had a medical tube in his hand, suggesting he may have been in hospital some time before his death.
‘May God console every mother’
For two years, 62-year-old Shabat and her husband were unsure of the fate of their son Mahmoud, who worked as a muezzin at a mosque, led prayers and played on the local football team. When the October 7 attack began, Shabat said, excitedly, he fled to Israel from his home in Beit Hanoun, the Gaza city closest to the border.
When the bodies were taken out, Shabat and her husband Nasir rushed to the hospital. Searching through photos online, Shabat believed he had found Mahmoud. But “the facilities seemed oppressive,” she said. He needed to see the body to be convinced.
His body was frozen, his skin turned red. As she ran her fingers over his skull to find his scar, she burst into tears and shouted: “It’s Mahmoud! It’s my son!”
Three days after identifying the body, the family buried Mahmood.
Shabat said, “Thank God, I have now buried my son.” “May God console every mother and tell her where her children are.”
Shaima Abu Awda received no such relief. She goes to Nasir Hospital every day to look for symptoms of her 16-year-old son Ryan. He was going to school when the attack took place on October 7. Witnesses saw him enter Israel with other spectators.
Abu Awda said, “He is a child, not a fighter.” “If he’s killed, it’s God’s will. … But I want his body to at least be found to bury him like the rest of them.”
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El Diab reported from Cairo. AP correspondent Lee Keith in Cairo contributed.