Three Gaza residents found dead after being released from Israeli custody, relatives and witnesses say

By Hatem Khaled

GAZA (Reuters) – The handcuffed bodies of three Palestinians released from Israeli custody were found near the Gaza-Israel border. The uncle of one of the men and a witness said they were attacked by Israeli forces shortly after their release.

Abdel Hadi Ghabayen, the uncle of one of the detainees, Kamel Ghabayen, said he left at 5 a.m. on Sunday to search for his nephew after he was arrested by Israeli forces on Saturday.

“I found him lying on the ground with the other two martyrs. They were naked and had plastic shackles on their hands that the Israeli army had put on them,” said Ghabayen.

The bodies were found on Sunday near the Israeli border fence near the Karam Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, he said.

Reuters could not independently confirm what happened to the three men or the reason for their arrest. The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on these reports.

Abdel Hadi Ghabayen said one of the men lost a leg and his body was “torn to pieces” after an attack by Israeli forces shortly after their release.

Abdel Hadi Ghabayen said that when he tried to recover the man’s severed leg, the Israelis “shot at me, so I stopped.” He later took the bodies of the three on his truck to Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

The three – Kamel Ghabayen, Mohammed Awad Ramadan Abu Hejazi and Ramadan Awad Ramadan Aby Hejaz – were among the numerous Palestinians arrested on Saturday and held for questioning, according to one of the men, Mahmoud Abu Taha.

Abu Taha said they came under fire shortly after their release.

“We reached Karkar Street (in Gaza). Ten minutes later, we realized that a bomb had been thrown at the people who were with me. Thank God I was at the front. The bomb hit six or seven people who were detained with us. Thank God I am alive,” he said.

The war began on October 7, when fighters from Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, attacked southern Israel. According to Israeli sources, they killed 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages. Since then, more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military offensive, according to health officials in the Gaza Strip.

(Written by Michael Georgy, edited by William Maclean)