The United Nations Office for Human Rights called this Tuesday for an independent and effective investigation of the deaths occurred in two Gaza hospitals -now destroyed- that were besieged by the Israeli army and where Mass graves were found over the weekend.
(Also read: 'It is not a secret office': this is how the headquarters of the International Criminal Court in Venezuela will work)
The findings about the bodies buried near medical centers were announced on Monday when the Gaza civil defense team, independent of Hamas, announced having recovered at least 210 bodies in a first mass grave.
According to information from the Gaza authorities transmitted to the Human Rights Office, In the Al Naser hospital (southern Gaza) 283 bodies could be recovered, of which 42 have already been identified.
The victims would have been buried at a certain depth in an area that was covered by debris. “Among the dead it is indicated that there are elderly, women and children,” said UN human rights body spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.
Other bodies, according to Shamdasani, “They were found with their hands tied (…) and stripped of their clothes.”
Among the deceased there were allegedly elderly people, women and injured people, while others (bodies) were found with their hands tied.
(You may be interested in: United States: annual report on human rights mentions scandals involving President Gustavo Petro)
“The Israeli defense forces have said they killed 200 Palestinians during their operation at Al Shifa hospital, but there are reports indicating that this figure could be underestimated,” the spokeswoman said.
Journalists in the area saw members of the Gaza Civil Protection unearth human remains near the hospital, and groups of Gazans approach the place to search for missing people.
Among them, Um Mohammed al Harazeen, whose husband disappeared about a month ago. “He only came out to bring us food and water. He disappeared when the Israeli army entered Khan Younis,” she said.
According to Palestinian sources, most of the bodies found are children and women, Gazan civilians killed when Israeli troops militarily took this center, and who would have been buried “collectively” during the siege.
(You can read: Gaza: a baby's life is saved after a cesarean section for her mother, who arrived at the hospital dying after Israel's bombing)
Mahmud Basal, a spokesperson for Civil Protection, assured that due to the decomposition of some bodies “the identification process is difficult, but the work must continue” to find the identity of the bodies found in the graves.
Ismail al Thawabteh, head of the Hamas government's communication service,
He assured that these are people who “were murdered in cold blood by the occupation army,” and called for an investigation. “We call for an international investigation to closely study these crimes against civilians, children and women,” she added.
mass graves found in the two main hospitals in the Gaza Strip and denounced the “reigning climate of impunity.”
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights declared itself “horrified” by the destruction of the two main hospitals in Gaza and the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, demanded “independent, effective and transparent investigations” into what happened.
(Keep reading: 'Chainsaw and blender' effect: Javier Milei celebrates key achievement of his economic plan in Argentina)
“Given the prevailing climate of impunity, international investigators must participate in this process,” he stated, while ensuring that they are trying to verify the number of bodies found in the graves.
According to Israel, Hamas uses hospitals to carry out attacks and hide tunnels and weapons. But the Palestinian Islamist movement denies these accusations.
Israel's response to the accusations
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responded to the allegations on Tuesday with a statement sent to Times of Israel in which they assured that Accusations that the Army participated in executions of Palestinians and the appearance of mass graves in Gaza are false.
“The claim that the IDF buried Palestinian bodies is completely unfounded,” they said.
Some of those bodies were exhumed, according to the IDF, in its efforts to search for and rescue the more than 130 Israeli hostages who remain in the Gaza Strip.
“The examinations were carried out in an orderly manner, maintaining the dignity of the deceased and in a respectful manner. The bodies were returned to their place in an orderly and appropriate manner,” they stated.
The aforementioned media also assured that before the operation by Israeli troops in the Naser hospital they had documented Palestinians burying bodies of their relatives in the area, with which the Hebrew country distanced itself from the accusations.
#mass #graves #courtyards #hospitals #Gaza #Strip #bodies