Executed, Blindfolded, and Handcuffed: Returned Palestinian Bodies Show Signs of Severe Torture

Gaza (QNN)- Israel has returned the bodies of about 120 Palestinians to Gaza. Health officials said the bodies show signs of severe torture and execution, and pictures show remains with their hands and feet tied and eyes blindfolded.

Israel returned the bodies of 30 Palestinians to Gaza via the Red Cross on Thursday, bringing the total number handed over to 120, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel is to turn over the bodies of 15 Palestinians for every deceased Israeli prisoner returned.

Signs of Torture

Gaza’s Government Media Office confirmed that the bodies of 120 Palestinians held in Israeli detention have been returned to the enclave so far.

The bodies, dozens of which have yet to be formally identified, showed “conclusive evidence of field executions and brutal torture”, the office said.

Some victims bore marks of being run over by tanks, while others showed signs of hanging and close-range gunfire. So far, health authorities in Gaza have been able to identify only six of the slain Palestinians. pic.twitter.com/SwNg2iIF9R

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 16, 2025

It said the bodies showed signs of:

• Hanging and rope marks on the necks of several bodies
• Direct gunfire at close range, “confirming deliberate field executions”
• Hands and feet being bound with plastic restraints
• Eyes being blindfolded
• Being crushed under Israeli tank tracks
• Fractures, burns and deep wounds, indicating “severe physical torture”

“We call for the urgent establishment of an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate these heinous crimes and to hold Israeli leaders accountable for the war crimes committed against our people in the Gaza Strip,” the Office said.

Dr. Ismail Al-Thawabta, Director General of the Government Media Office, said Israeli occupation forces stole organs from the bodies of Palestinian detainees returned to Gaza.

He said dozens of bodies delivered near the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis were found mutilated and missing vital parts, including eyes, limbs, and internal organs.

“When we examined the bodies, we found that large parts were missing, there were half bodies, bodies without heads, without limbs, without eyes, and without internal organs.”

Mohammed Zaqout, director of hospitals in Gaza’s Health Ministry, has spoken about the “clear signs of torture” found on the bodies of Palestinians that were returned to the Gaza Strip this week.

“One body shows signs of hanging with a rope still wrapped around the neck, blindfolds around the eyes and bound hands. That martyr was placed as is and sent to us,” Zaqout said from Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Zaqout added that many of the bodies are unrecognisable, and only six killed Palestinian prisoners transferred from Israel have been identified so far.

Hamas condemned the apparent signs of “torture, abuse and field executions” discovered on the bodies of Palestinians.

The “horrific scenes … clearly reveal the criminal and fascist nature of the occupation army and the moral and humanitarian depravity that this entity has reached”, the Palestinian group said.
“This constitutes a heinous crime that amounts to genocide against our Palestinian people,” it added.

The group called on international human rights institutions, including the United Nations, to open an investigation into finding and bringing Israeli leaders to justice.

UN chief Antonio Guterres’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, also said the reports that Palestinian bodies returned to Gaza show signs of torture “are extremely concerning”.

Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, Director General of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, said, “The bodies we received were bound like animals, blindfolded, and bore horrific signs of torture and burns that reveal the extent of the crimes committed in secret.”

“They did not die naturally; they were executed after being restrained. These people were not buried underground, they were kept in the occupation’s refrigerators for long months.”