UN demands independent mass grave investigations
The United Nations called for “a clear, transparent and credible investigation” of mass graves uncovered at two major hospitals in war-ravaged Gaza that were raided by Israeli troops.
Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman with the UN’s human rights office, demanded independent and transparent investigations into the deaths, saying “given the prevailing climate of impunity, this should include international investigators”.
Credible investigators must have access to the sites, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters, adding more journalists need to be able to work safely in Gaza to report the facts.
Earlier, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said he is “horrified” by the destruction of the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, and reported mass graves in and around the facilities after the Israelis left.
Medics remove the bodies of Palestinians killed and buried at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis
‘Credible source?’ US asks Israel for information on Gaza’s mass graves
US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel has described reports of mass graves at Gaza hospitals as “incredibly troubling” and said US officials asked the Israeli government for information. Asked by a reporter if he believes the Israeli government is “a credible source” for information on the mass graves, Patel responded: “We do. We do.”
Gaza’s civil defence agency says more than 300 bodies have been found buried in the courtyard of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis after Israeli forces withdrew from the facility last week.
The Israeli military said its forces exhumed bodies that Palestinians had buried earlier as part of its search for the remains of captives taken by Hamas on October 7. It said bodies were examined and the ones not of captives were reburied.
“Obviously scenes of mass graves in general are deeply concerning, but I don’t have anything that can confirm the veracity of those,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
EU joins calls for probe into mass graves at Gaza hospitals
The European Union wants an independent investigation into mass graves uncovered at Gaza’s Nasser and al-Shifa medical facilities.
“This is something that forces us to call for an independent investigation of all the suspicions and all the circumstances, because indeed it creates the impression that there might have been violations of international human rights committed,” EU spokesman Peter Stano said.
Earlier, the UN also demanded a transparent inquiry into the mass graves, where Palestinian civil defence crew say they found more than 300 bodies. Any investigation, according to the UN, would need to involve international investigators “given the prevailing climate of impunity”.
UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said some of the bodies at Nasser Hospital were allegedly “found with their hands tied and stripped of their clothes”.
Palestinians react after the body of a relative is found buried at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis
Bodies in Nasser Hospital mass grave ‘unrecognisable’
As the day progresses, we are finding out more shocking details and revelations about the mass grave at the courtyard of Nasser Hospital. Many of the bodies retrieved inside plastic bags have been largely [decomposed] to the point they are not recognisable at all. Their identities are lost.
Families gathered at the hospital’s courtyard trying to find [the bodies of their] children or other relatives, whom they have been searching for over the past 70 days, are unable to recognise them. There have only been a few cases of parents being able to recognise the bodies of their children from the clothes they were wearing.
Tragedies keep unfolding across the hospital’s courtyard, where the fourth mass grave has been discovered within the past 12 days.
Health workers unearth bodies found at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on April 23
