what we know about the mass graves discovered in the Nasser hospital in Khan Younes

The Gaza Strip’s civil defense said Monday it had exhumed at least 200 bodies in three days in the courtyard inside the hospital, one of the largest in the Palestinian enclave.

Macabre discovered in the Gaza Strip. The civil defense of the Palestinian enclave told AFP on Monday April 22 that it had exhumed over the last three days at least 200 bodies of people killed and buried by Israeli forces in mass graves inside the hospital. Nasser of Khan Younès, one of the largest health establishments in the territory. “Our teams continue to find bodies in the compound”, declared Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesperson for Civil Defense. No independent source is currently able to confirm this assessment. Franceinfo summarizes the situation for you.

Hundreds of remains exhumed since Saturday

The first bodies were discovered on Saturday in the courtyard of the hospital in Khan Younes, a town located in the south of the Gaza Strip. A few dozen were first exhumed. Some, at least 50, “were stripped of their clothes, which certainly indicates that they were arrested, tortured and subjected to ill-treatment by the occupying army”, affirmed the Gaza Civil Defense. The toll rose over the days and on Monday, the number of at least 200 dead was put forward by a Civil Defense spokesperson.

Another leader of the organization, for his part, told AFP the figure of 283 bodies found. A number also given to AFP by the head of the communications service of the Hamas government, Ismail al-Thawabteh. The latter ensures that these people were “killed in cold blood by the occupying army” Israeli.

Emergency services assured on Monday that 73 additional bodies had been discovered at the site over the past day, again reporting a toll of 283 remains, adds the Reuters news agency. Many Palestinians gathered in front of the hospital, searching for missing relatives. Due to the decomposition of some bodies, “the identification process is difficult, but efforts must continue”specified the Gaza Civil Defense.

An international investigation called for

The Associated Press (AP) agency explains that “The Nasser Hospital burial area was built when Israeli forces were besieging the facility last month.” Quoted by AP, Civil Defense claims that residents, unable to bury the dead in a cemetery, dug graves in the hospital courtyard. She maintains that some people died during the siege of the hospital, while others were killed when Israeli forces attacked the facility, AP reported Tuesday.

Gaza authorities assure that the bodies discovered so far come from only one of the three mass graves they found at the site, Reuters points out. “We expect to find another 200 bodies in the same mass grave over the next two days before we start work in the other two cemeteries”, the head of the Hamas government’s communications department told the news agency. The latter accuses Israel of carrying out “executions” to the hospital and cover up the crimes by burying the bodies with a bulldozer. If it did not respond immediately to requests from AFP, the Israeli army “strongly denied carrying out executions”writes Reuters.

The Gaza authorities want to shed light on this macabre discovery. “We call for an international investigation to look closely at these crimes against civilians, children and women”the head of the Hamas government’s communications service told AFP.

The town of Khan Younes devastated by the Israeli army

The Israeli army withdrew from Khan Yunis on April 7, after carrying out what it called a “precise and limited operation” in the Nasser hospital, one of the largest in the Palestinian enclave. The city was the target of six months of bombing accompanied by ground fighting. A departure which surprised the Palestinians, some of whom returned to the direction of the now devastated city which they had left due to the fighting.

But Reuters, citing residents’ testimony, said Israeli troops returned to an area in eastern Khan Yunis in a surprise raid. This operation once again caused people returning to their abandoned homes to flee.