The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced on Wednesday the arrival of 54 bodies of Palestinian martyrs and 66 boxes containing human remains and organs at Al-Shifa Medical Complex, after Israel released them and they were transferred by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The Ministry of Health said in a statement that "54 bodies of martyrs, and 66 boxes containing human remains and organs, arrived at Al-Shifa Medical Complex, after the Israeli occupation released them, through the Red Cross organization."
She explained that her medical teams immediately began dealing with the bodies in accordance with approved medical procedures and protocols, and in cooperation with the relevant authorities and committees.
The ministry indicated that work is underway to complete the examination and documentation processes, in preparation for presenting them to citizens to familiarize themselves with them according to the established procedures.
In another context, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said on Wednesday that it had managed to evacuate 15 patients and 31 companions from the Gaza Strip to Egypt via the Rafah crossing on the third day of its limited opening under strict Israeli restrictions, hours after work had stopped there.
The association's spokesperson, Raed Al-Nims, stated in an interview with Anadolu that "the association was able to evacuate 15 patients and 31 companions through the Rafah crossing, as part of ongoing humanitarian efforts to secure necessary treatment outside the Gaza Strip."
On Monday, Israel reopened the Palestinian side of the crossing, which it has occupied since May 2024, in a very limited manner and with very strict restrictions.
Al-Nims explained that they received a notification this morning that the coordination for the travel of patients and the wounded through the Rafah crossing had been cancelled, before the World Health Organization informed them again hours later that the coordination had been reopened, which allowed them to complete the travel procedures.
He added: “The patients were gathered at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society’s Medical Rehabilitation Hospital in Khan Yunis Governorate, where they received the necessary medical care before traveling, while the Society’s ambulance crews took over transporting them to the Rafah crossing and accompanying them, to ensure the safe completion of travel procedures.”
He stressed that the patients’ travel is being carried out through the World Health Organization, within the framework of joint cooperation with international partners, “to ensure the continuity of patient evacuation and facilitate their access to the necessary treatment, despite the existing humanitarian challenges in the Gaza Strip.”
For its part, Cairo News Channel reported that the third group of Palestinians returning to the Gaza Strip had arrived at the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, preparing to enter Gaza. The channel did not specify the number of Palestinians or whether Israel would allow them entry.
Official estimates in Gaza indicate that 22,000 wounded and sick people hope to leave the Strip to receive treatment abroad, given the catastrophic state of the health sector as a result of the Israeli war of extermination.
According to Egyptian and Israelimedia, it was expected that 50 Palestinians would cross into Gaza and a similar number into Egypt daily, including patients and their companions, but this has not happened so far. Since the crossing reopened on Monday, 12 Palestinians entered Gaza in the first group and 20 left, and in the second group, 40 entered and 40 left.
Semi-official Palestinian data indicates that around 80,000 Palestinians have registered to return to Gaza, a clear indication of the Palestinians' insistence on rejecting displacement and clinging to the idea of returning despite the destruction.
Under Israeli instructions, Palestinians are only allowed to return to the Gaza Strip if they left it after the outbreak of the war, during which Israel occupied the crossing in May 2024.
Testimonies from returnees, including elderly people and children, reported that they were subjected to harsh Israeli military interrogation, while emphasizing their attachment to their land and their rejection of any attempt to displace them.
Before the war of extermination, hundreds of Palestinians used to leave Gaza daily through the crossing to Egypt, and hundreds of others would return to the Strip in a normal movement. The mechanism of work at the crossing was subject to the Ministry of Interior in Gaza and the Egyptian side, without Israeli interference.
Israel was supposed to reopen the crossing in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, which came into effect on October 10, 2025, but it reneged on that.
The Israeli genocide in Gaza left approximately 72,000 Palestinian martyrs and more than 171,000 wounded, most of them children and women, and caused destruction affecting 90% of the civilian infrastructure.
Israel violates the agreement daily, resulting in the martyrdom of 556 Palestinians. It also prevents the entry of the agreed-upon quantities of humanitarian aid into Gaza, where about 2.4 million Palestinians, including 1.5 million displaced people, live in catastrophic conditions
In 1948, Israel was established on lands occupied by armed Zionist gangs who committed massacres and displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Tel Aviv then occupied the rest of the Palestinian territories and refuses to withdraw and allow the establishment of a Palestinian state.
