Families in Gaza struggle to identify deceased loved ones
This is one of the most emotional moments for us across the Gaza Strip. This is not the first time we’ve witnessed the return of unidentified bodies during Israel’s war. We’ve seen families and friends in hospitals and morgues clinging to a fading hope of recognising a loved one from fragments of their clothing or from their physical features.
But they are often unable to confirm their identities because of the decomposition, and that is the problem. There is an absence of forensic laboratories and testing.
Mourning becomes impossible, leaving people in emotional limbo. We’ve seen this clearly on the faces of mothers, fathers and other surviving family members.
Gaza opens office to identify bodies of returned Palestinians
Gaza’s Health Ministry has announced it’s opening a new office to work on identifying the remains of hundreds of Palestinians returned by Israel under the ceasefire with Hamas.
It called on “anyone who can identify the martyrs through their belongings or identifying marks” to visit Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital in the next three days.
The ministry launched an online portal showing censored photos of the bodies to help families identify missing relatives remotely.
The remains of most of the Palestinian bodies returned under the truce have gone unidentified, with medical workers saying many show signs of torture and execution. Israel hasn’t provided data or names, making identification of hundreds of corpses nearly impossible.
Israel knew full well what the identities were of those they tortured to death. Just another way to torture Palestinians as a group.
Hamas says it will hand over body of Israeli captive tonight
Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, says it will hand over the body of a deceased abductee it recovered on Monday in Gaza at 9pm local time (18:00 GMT).
As part of the US-brokered ceasefire, Hamas has already returned 20 living captives from Gaza and is now trying locate the bodies of others in the war-battered Strip. 
Red Cross workers arrive for a search for bodies in Hamad City, Khan Younis
