BBC Reporter:
Doctors at Gaza’s Nasser hospital say the bodies of Palestinians returned by Israel under the US backed ceasefire show signs of torture and abuse, and a lack of resources is making it difficult to identify them. Israel’s army has repeated that it acts in accordance with international law. Almost 200 bodies have been returned to Gaza in return for Hamas handing over the bodies of 13 Israeli hostages. Earlier this week, Gaza buried dozens of remains before they were identified because of a lack of facilities to hold them. Our Middle East correspondent, Lucy Williamson, has been speaking to doctors, officials, and forensic experts about the challenge of confirming the stories of the dead.

Lucy Williamson:
Bodies without names, buried by families without relatives, at a funeral without closure.
A mass burial for 54 bodies sent back by Israel, unidentified and unclaimed. In a place without autopsies or DNA tests, the dignity of a flag marks out the hearse. Families of those missing in the war gathered here, unsure if they were burying a stranger or their nephew, brother, or son.

Woman searching for her nephew:
We are looking for my sister’s son. Every day I go with her to try to identify the body, but there’s nothing to indicate if it’s him. If there was DNA testing, we’d know.

Lucy Williamson:
Only some 50 of the almost 200 bodies brought to Gaza’s Nasser hospital during the ceasefire have been identified. Unable to carry out postmortems or DNA tests, doctors this week asked families to spot their relatives among the dead. Many naked, decomposed, and bearing marks that the forensic unit says are signs of torture.

Gazan forensic expert:
When a person is found naked with hands tied behind their back and visible restraint marks on the wrists and ankles, it indicates that they died in that position. Likewise, the multiple injuries, bruises, and marks found across the bodies, blindfolded with bindings around the neck.
Lucy Williamson:
Some of these photographs show deep indentations and cable ties around the limbs along with other injuries. But establishing what happened to these bodies before they died and whether injuries are due to combat or abuse isn’t always easy. We showed these photographs to several forensic specialists who said they raised questions that were difficult to answer without postmortems. Human rights groups and whistleblowers have told us that detainees held without charge in Israeli jails were heavily restrained, especially at the start of the war.

Witness:
Detainees from Gaza were held when they were restrained and cuffed and their eyes were covered the whole time — 24 hours, 7 days a week for months. People developed serious infections on their skin, on their hands, on their legs because of the cuffs.

Lucy Williamson:
Israel’s army told us that all bodies returned to Gaza so far were fighters, and denied tying any bodies before release.

Israeli military spokesperson:
Israel, of course, adheres to all international law when it comes to any actions inside of the Gaza Strip. These types of reports that come out, it’s just more evidence and more efforts to demonize Israel.

Lucy Williamson:
Gaza’s forensic team told us that Israel had provided ID numbers for six of the bodies, five of which proved to be wrong. The war here may have stopped, but for Gaza’s forensic doctors, a new battle for the truth has begun. Lucy Williamson, BBC News, Jerusalem.