Body parts of Israeli soldiers returned

Palestinians today handed over to Israel body parts of soldiers killed in an explosion that destroyed an armoured personnel carrier in Gaza City, Palestinian officials said.

The officials said the handover was part of an agreement that included an Israeli withdrawal from the Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza City, where the armoured vehicle was bombed on Tuesday.

Israel denied it negotiated for return of the body parts. A terse military statement acknowledged that the Palestinians returned remains and said they would be transferred to Israel’s forensic institute for identification.

The explosion, the result of a roadside bomb detonating explosives inside the vehicle, killed six soldiers, scattering body parts over a large area.

Israeli officials expressed outrage after Palestinian militants picked up bloody fragments and flaunted them in front of TV cameras.

Claiming responsibility for the bombing, the Islamic Jihad released a video for broadcast that showed what it said was the severed head of an Israeli soldier.

At Preventive Security headquarters in Gaza City early today, Palestinian officials showed reporters a white medical container they said held all the remains, including the head.

Preventive Security Chief Rashid Abu Shbak said Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had ordered him to arrange the handover “in accordance with our religion and tradition”.

Abu Shbak accompanied an ambulance driver carrying the container to his vehicle, which drove to the Erez crossing point, where it was handed over to the Israeli military.

Earlier, a masked, armed militant saying he spoke for the Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades said that according to an agreement worked out with the Palestinian Authority and Egypt, the militants had given them the body parts of Israeli soldiers after the Israeli pull-out from Gaza City.

Israeli troops scoured the Zeitoun neighbourhood for nearly two full days after the bombing. The military did not connect the pull-out to the return of the body parts. In a statement, it said “the forces exited on completion of their mission”.