Palestinian medics said several of the 54 bodies had been dismembered and showed signs of widespread abuse.

Palestinian medical officials say Israel has returned dozens of Palestinian bodies and remains to Gaza but has not provided any information about their identities or how they were killed.

The remains arrived in Gaza City’s Shifa hospital in plain white bags on Wednesday and are being examined by forensic teams in an effort to identify them and provide answers to the grieving family.

“These bags carry the weight of lives lost. Now they are being examined, prolonging the grief of families desperate for closure,” Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim Khalili reported from Shifa Hospital on Saturday.

Palestinian medical staff said several bodies had been dismembered.

“The ICRC handed over 120 body bags containing 54 bodies, as well as skull samples in 66 separate bags,” forensics officer Omar Suleiman told Al Jazeera.

The bodies of Palestinian prisoners have been exchanged before Revealing widespread signs of abusemany signs of torture, mutilation and execution.

In November, the human rights group Physicians for Human Rights Israel issued a report It says at least 94 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli custody, with causes including torture, medical neglect, malnutrition and physical assault.

The group said the actual death toll was likely much higher.

“Missing for 10 months”

For many Palestinians, the search for missing relatives has shifted from streets and ruins to computer screens and makeshift identification centers.

In al-Shifa, Shadi Fayoumi scrolled through blurry and graphic images, hoping to find anything identifiable that might tell him what happened to his brothers.

“My brothers have been missing for ten months. They disappeared in the Tufa neighborhood,” Fayoumi, whose brothers are still missing, told Al Jazeera.

“I went to al-Shifa Medical Center where we were told that we could try to identify the bodies. However, the images were unclear and lacked discernible features. How can we identify them in this situation?”

According to Fayoumi, at the height of the famine last year, his brothers went in search of food and water but never returned.

“We contacted multiple agencies but none were willing to help or provide reliable information,” Fayoumi added.

Al-Jazeera’s Khalili said Fayoumi’s mother was “very heartbroken.”

“His brother’s children remained silent, unwilling to speak out about their worst fears. The Israeli army showed little respect for human dignity by handing over Palestinian bodies,” he added.

“There is no information about how they died or how long they were held, leaving Palestinians not only grieving but also left with unanswered questions.”