Israel has handed over to Palestinian authorities the bodies of dozens of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in recent weeks, health officials in the Palestinian enclave said, Reuters reports.

The bodies, which had been held in Israel, were handed over through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing and will be buried in mass graves in the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, the officials said.

The health ministry in Gaza did not immediately say how many bodies had been handed over.

Israel did not immediately comment on the handover.