The United Nations demanded a clear, transparent, and credible investigation into the mass graves found at two primary hospitals in the conflict-ridden Gaza Strip, which Israeli troops had bombarded. Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for the UN, emphasized that trustworthy investigators must have access to the sites and that more journalists should be able to work securely in Gaza to report on the situation. Earlier on Tuesday, Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, voiced his horror at the destruction of the Shifa medical center in Gaza City and Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, as well as the reported discovery of mass graves in and around these facilities after the Israelis left. He demanded independent and impartial investigations into the deaths, stating that given the current climate of impunity, this should include international investigators.
Türk stressed that international humanitarian law accords special protection to hospitals. He emphasized that the deliberate killing of civilians, prisoners, and others who are “hors de combat” (unable to participate in combat) constitutes a war crime. The reports of mass graves at the hospitals were deemed “extremely disturbing” by Vedant Patel, a spokesperson for the US State Department. According to him, American authorities have contacted the Israeli government for clarification. The Israeli military declared that as part of its search for the bodies of hostages taken by Hamas during its October 7 assault that started the conflict, its troops had exhumed bodies that Palestinians had previously buried. The military claimed that the remains were handled with respect, and those that did not belong to Israeli hostages were put back where they had been.
The Israeli military asserts that it killed or detained hundreds of militants who had taken refuge inside the two hospital complexes, a claim that has not been independently verified. The Palestinian civil defense in the Gaza Strip announced on Monday that inside the main hospital in Khan Younis, they had unearthed 283 corpses from a temporary burial site that was built while Israeli troops were besieging the facility the previous month. The organization said that at the time, people were unable to bury the deceased in a cemetery and therefore dug graves on the hospital grounds. According to the civil defense, some of the remains belonged to people who had perished during the hospital siege, while others had been killed during the Israeli military raid.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the hospital raids have severely damaged the Gaza health care system, which is already battling to cope with the mounting death toll from over six months of warfare. Dujarric emphasized the need for greater access for humanitarians, humanitarian goods, protection for hospitals, and the release of Israeli hostages in order to achieve a cease-fire, an end to the conflict, and protection for hospitals.In the Hamas attack that started the battle, militants killed about 1,200 civilians and kidnapped about 250 hostages, the majority of whom were civilians. Israel claims that roughly 100 hostages and the bodies of over 30 others are still being held by the militants. In reaction, Israel’s air and ground offensive in Gaza, which was aimed at eliminating Hamas, has claimed the lives of more than 34,000 Palestinians, as per local health officials, with children and women making up roughly two-thirds of those fatalities. It has severely damaged Gaza’s two largest cities, created a humanitarian crisis, and forced approximately 80% of the region’s population to relocate to other areas of the beleaguered coastal enclave.
