Ayyub Al-Trawi

The return of the last Israeli body taken in the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel

closed for many, a dark chapter for the nation.

But Palestinians say they continue to search for their loved ones taken by Israel in the war.

Palestinian forensic doctors say bodies returned from Israel in the ceasefire exchange have shown signs of torture.

Some were eventually buried in mass graves, unidentified.

Israel has not commented.

Israel also continues to hold an unknown number of bodies from Gaza and hundreds of bodies from the West Bank, but they are not part of this ceasefire exchange.

Under U.S.

pressure to move now to the second phase of the deal, Israel says it will open Gaza's Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the coming days for Palestinians to leave or return under strict conditions.

Ayyub Al-Trawi, NPR News, Dubai.