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Search for mass graves continues at Nasser Hospital
After the Israeli military withdrew from Khan Younis earlier this month, residents have returned daily to Nasser Hospital in search of bodies of their loved ones with the aim of burying them in permanent graves elsewhere.
The civil defence agency says a total of 283 bodies have been recovered from the hospital yard since Friday. The International Committee of the Red Cross has given 1,500 body bags and protective gear to the medics to help dig up the grounds and move corpses.
“I came here for the fifth day looking for the body of my son Jamal. But unfortunately I did not find my son’s body,” said Raeda Abu al-Ola.
Civil defence workers continue to search for human remains. Israel has yet to comment on the killings and mass burials at the hospital.
Mass graves at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis
UN rights chief ‘horrified’ by mass grave reports at Gaza hospitals
UN rights chief Volker Turk says he’s “horrified” by the destruction of the Nasser and al-Shifa medical facilities in Gaza and reports of mass graves discovered there.
Turk, addressing a UN briefing via a spokesperson, also decried Israeli strikes on Gaza in recent days, which he noted killed mostly women and children. He also repeated a warning against a full-scale incursion on Rafah, saying this could lead to “further atrocity crimes”.
Dozens more bodies recovered from Nasser Hospital mass grave
At least 35 more bodies have been found in a mass grave at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, according to civil defence crews, bringing the total number of bodies recovered there to at least 310.
Relatives of Palestinians killed in Khan Younis have been painstakingly searching for their loved ones’ remains, including around Nasser Hospital, since earlier this month when Israeli forces withdrew from the city.
Here come the lies
Israeli military says it did not dig mass graves but exhumed some bodies
Israel’s military has denied accusations that it buried Palestinians killed by its attacks in mass graves that are being uncovered around Nasser and al-Shifa hospitals. Those graves were not dug by Israeli forces, the military said, although it did say it exhumed some bodies and returned them as part of a search for Israeli captives.
“The examination was conducted in a careful manner and exclusively in places where intelligence indicated the possible presence of hostages,” Israel’s military said in a statement carried by the Reuters news agency. “The examination was carried out respectfully while maintaining the dignity of the deceased.”
This weekend, a Palestinian civil defence crew discovered a mass grave at Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital, which Israel’s military besieged and attacked in February. So far, they have found at least 310 bodies.
Another 30 bodies have been found in a grave at Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, according to Palestinian officials.
Carefully exhumed some bodies... Some were found with catheter bags and other medical equipment still attached, some were found with their hands zip tied behind their back... Bulldozed under the rubble.
Discovery of mass graves ‘stark evidence of war crimes’
Zainah Haroun, a spokesperson for Al-Haq, an independent Palestinian rights organisation based in the occupied West Bank, says the discovery of the mass graves at Nasser Hospital and previously at al-Shifa Hospital is “stark evidence of war crimes and of course the genocide which is being perpetrated against the Palestinian people in Gaza by Israel”.
“Initial reports from Nasser Hospital show that some of the bodies of the killed people had their hands tied behind their back and some of the bodies were women and Palestinian people who were elderly, as well,” she told Al Jazeera.
Haroun said what was needed was “a proper investigative mechanism” to be given full and unrestricted access to the Gaza Strip as a whole, including the sites where mass graves have been uncovered.
“Most of the information that we’re getting at the moment is from incredibly brave Palestinian journalists who are reporting these horrific
atrocities on the ground and are also being targeted by Israel,” she added.
Haroun said one testimony gathered by Al-Haq from al-Shifa Hospital showed how “dire” the situation war.
“One family member was desperate to find just a trace of his uncle; he said that he found his sandals but even if he could find a body part, an arm or a leg, that they could at least take that and bury him so they’re able to sleep at night,” she added.
‘Need to raise the alarm’ on mass graves found: UN
Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said it was working on corroborating Palestinian officials’ reports of bodies being found at Nasser and al-Shifa hospitals in Khan Younis and Gaza City.
According to these reports, the bodies were buried beneath piles of waste and included women and older people. “We feel the need to raise the alarm because clearly there have been multiple bodies discovered,” Shamdasani said.
Palestinian authorities reported finding hundreds of bodies in mass graves at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis this week after it was abandoned by Israeli troops. Dozens of bodies have also been found at al-Shifa Hospital, according to officials.
