‘Horrified’: reaction to hundreds of bodies found in mass grave at Gaza hospital

‘Horrified’: reaction to hundreds of bodies found in mass grave at Gaza hospital


Palestinian authorities say they have exhumed the bodies of nearly 300 people at Nasser Hospital after invading Israeli forces; Israel has called accusations that it buried bodies there “unfounded.”




UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said he was “horrified” by the destruction of the Nasser and al-Shifa hospitals in Gaza – and by reports of “mass graves” found at both facilities after Israeli forces invaded.

Türk called for independent investigations into the deaths.

Palestinian authorities said they had exhumed the bodies of nearly 300 people at Nasser Hospital. It is not clear how they died or when they were buried.

The Israeli military said, for its part, that allegations that bodies were buried there were “unfounded.”

But they added that during a two-week operation at the hospital, located in the city of Khan Younis, in February, their troops “examined” bodies buried by Palestinians “in locations where intelligence information indicated possible presence of hostages”.

Ten hostages who have since been released said they were held at Nasser Hospital for long periods during their captivity.

Before the Israeli operation at Nasser Hospital, officials had said they had been forced to bury bodies in the hospital courtyard because fighting nearby blocked access to cemeteries. There had been similar reports at al-Shifa hospital before the first Israeli raid on the facility in November.

The Israeli army has said it raided several hospitals in Gaza during the war because Hamas fighters were operating inside them – a charge that Hamas and health authorities deny.

The war began when Hamas gunmen carried out an unprecedented attack in southern Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people – most of them civilians – and returning 253 others to Gaza as hostages.

According to the local Hamas-run Ministry of Health, more than 34,180 people have been killed in Gaza since then, most of them children and women.

UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said she was currently working to confirm reports from Palestinian authorities that 283 bodies had been found on the grounds of Nasser Hospital, of which 42 had been identified.

“The victims would have been buried deep in the ground and covered with rubbish,” Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland.

“Among the dead there were elderly people, women and the wounded, while others… were found with their hands tied and naked.”

Volker Türk called for independent, effective and transparent investigations into the deaths.

“Given the prevailing climate of impunity, this should involve international investigators,” he added.

“Hospitals are entitled to very special protection under international humanitarian law. And the intentional killing of civilians, detainees and other persons hors de combat [que não participam das hostilidades] It’s a war crime.”

Hamas-run civil defense force spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told BBC Arabic’s Gaza Today program on Monday (22/4), the BBC’s Arabic-language news service, that he had received word from local Palestinians reporting that the bodies of a “large number” of people killed during the war and buried in a makeshift cemetery in the hospital courtyard had been moved to another location during the Israeli invasion.

“After research and investigation, we found that the occupation army [israelense] they had created a mass grave, removed the bodies that were in the Nasser hospital and buried them in this mass grave,” Basal said.

The Gaza Today program also spoke to a man who said he was looking for the bodies of two male relatives, who he said were taken by Israeli troops during the recently concluded Israeli offensive on Khan Younis.

“After burying them in an apartment, i [israelenses] they came and took the bodies,” he said. “Every day we search for their bodies, but we can’t find them.”

Hamas claims the bodies include those of people “executed in cold blood” by Israeli forces, without providing evidence.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Tuesday (23/4): “The allegation that the IDF buried the Palestinian bodies is baseless and unfounded.”

“During the IDF operation in the area of ​​Nasser Hospital, in line with the effort to locate hostages and missing persons, corpses buried by Palestinians in the area of ​​Nasser Hospital were examined.”

“The examination was carried out carefully and exclusively in places where intelligence information indicated the possible presence of hostages. The examination was carried out respectfully, preserving the dignity of the dead. The examined bodies, which did not belong to hostages Israelis, have been returned to their places.”

The IDF also said that its forces arrested “around 200 terrorists who were in hospital” during the operation – and that they found unused ammunition and medicines intended for the Israeli hostages.

They also insisted that the operation was carried out “in a targeted manner and without harm to the hospital, patients and medical staff”.

However, three doctors working at the hospital told the BBC last month that they had been humiliated, beaten, doused with cold water and forced to kneel for hours after being restrained during the operation.

Doctors who remained at Nasser Hospital after the Israeli invasion said they were unable to care for patients – and that 13 died due to conditions in the unit, including a lack of water, electricity and other supplies.



The United Nations Human Rights Office said it had received a report that 30 bodies were buried in the courtyard of al-Shifa hospital

On April 1, Israeli troops withdrew from al-Shifa hospital, located in Gaza city, following what the IDF called another “precise” operation carried out in response to intelligence indicating that Hamas had regrouped there.

At the time, the IDF claimed that 200 “terrorists” had been killed in and around the hospital during the two-week operation. They added that more than 500 people had been arrested and that weapons and intelligence information had been found “throughout the hospital.”

After gaining access to the facility five days later, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that al-Shifa hospital was “now an empty shell”, with most buildings extensively damaged or destroyed and most equipment unusable or reduced to ash.

The WHO also said that “numerous shallow graves” had been dug outside the emergency room, administration buildings and surgery centers, and that “many bodies were partially buried, with limbs visible.”

The IDF said it avoided harming al-Shifa patients. But the WHO quoted the hospital’s acting director as saying that patients had been kept in appalling conditions during the siege – and that at least 20 patients had died due to lack of access to care and restricted movement imposed on them. doctors.

Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the United Nations Human Rights Office, said reports seen by the organization suggest that a total of 30 bodies were buried in the two graves and that 12 of them have been identified so far.

The Gaza Civil Defense spokesperson told US network CNN on April 9 that 381 bodies had been recovered near al-Shifa hospital, but that the number did not include people buried on the unit’s premises.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also defined the series of Israeli attacks launched in recent days against the city of Rafah as “beyond war”, which according to him killed mainly women and children.

In one of the attacks, on Saturday night (20/4), a premature baby was pulled alive from the womb of its mother, who was killed along with her husband and another daughter after a bomb hit the family’s home.

Türk once again warned against a large-scale Israeli ground attack in Rafah, where 1.5 million displaced civilians are sheltering, saying this would lead to further violations of international humanitarian law and human rights.

In response, the IDF stated that it was “working to dismantle Hamas’ military and administrative capabilities.”

“In stark contrast to Hamas’s intentional attacks against Israeli men, women and children, the IDF follows international law and takes all possible precautions to mitigate civilian harm,” they added.

Source: Terra

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