JERUSALEM 

The Israeli army has been holding the bodies of 1,500 Palestinians believed to be belonging to Hamas gunmen in its desert detention center Sde Teiman since Oct. 7, Israeli media reported on Tuesday. 

The Israeli daily Haaretz quoted an Israeli soldier who served in the Sde Teiman detention center as saying the bodies are held in refrigerators, and classified in numbers, not based on names.

The soldier added that the bodies are in bad condition as some of them have signs of decomposition, others have limbs amputated, and some have recognizable faces, while others do not.

Haaretz estimates that the majority of these unidentified bodies are for the elite forces of the Hamas group that crossed into the Israeli areas around the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7.

It noted that the bodies were not taken to any forensic medicine center for autopsy.

The daily quoted the Israeli army as saying that any decision regarding the return of the bodies is up to the Israeli government.

Since June, the Israeli Supreme Court has been looking into a case brought by Israeli human rights organizations demanding to immediately close the Sde Teiman detention center following reports of torture and killing cases against Palestinians detained in the center.

While there is no exact number of Palestinians detained by the Israeli army from Gaza, there are over 9,000 Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails, according to Israeli figures.  

* Writing by Ahmed Asmar.