Civilians watch as Gaza-based Palestinian Health Ministry workers bury the bodies of unidentified Palestinians whose date of death is not known after they were returned by Israel earlier on the same day through the Kerem Shalom crossing, at a mass grave east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on January 30, 2024
An AFP photographer saw Gazans moving the bodies in blue plastic shrouds from a truck towards the newly dug mass grave east of Rafah.
Health ministry employees wearing white protective clothing lowered them into the ground, near the tents of people displaced by the Israeli war on Gaza.
A Palestinian source at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt told AFP the bodies returned had been "stolen by the occupation (Israeli) army during its incursion" into Gaza.
A second source at Gaza's ministry of religious affairs told AFP that Israel "stole them from Bani Suheila cemetery, east of Khan Yunis" around two weeks ago.
The Israeli military did not respond to a request to comment, although it has previously made remarks about exhuming bodies from Gaza graves in search of Israeli captives.
"The hostage identification process, conducted at a secure and alternative location, ensures optimal professional conditions and respect for the deceased," the military said Monday.
The government media office in Gaza accused Israel of removing organs from the bodies, an allegation the military did not respond to when contacted by AFP.
In November and December, AFP journalists also witnessed the reburial of bodies that Gaza officials said had been exhumed by Israeli forces.
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