Following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the al-Shifa Hospital in central Gaza, and the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, Palestinian rescue crews have gone in to search through the rubble of what had been premier hospitals in Gaza to search for remains.
Mass graves have been uncovered at both hospitals, in which Israeli troops occupying the hospitals unceremoniously dumped the Palestinians they had killed, as well as patients who died when the army took over the hospitals and kicked out medical staff.
The U.N. High Commission for Human Rights issued a report Tuesday detailing information about the mass graves, including the fact that many of the Palestinian victims were reportedly stripped naked with their hands tied, prompting renewed concerns about possible war crimes amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes.
The development follows the recovery of hundreds of bodies “buried deep in the ground and covered with waste” over the weekend at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, central Gaza, and at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in the north. A total of 283 bodies were recovered at Nasser Hospital, of which 42 were identified.
“Among the deceased were allegedly older people, women and wounded, while others were found tied with their hands…tied and stripped of their clothes,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Citing the local health authorities in Gaza, Ms. Shamdasani added that a mass grave had also been found at Al-Shifa Hospital.
The large health complex was the enclave’s main advanced medical facility before the Israeli invasion of Gaza began on 7 October.
The hospital became the focus of an Israeli military incursion to allegedly “root out Hamas militants operating inside” the hospital – although no actual evidence of Hamas fighters in the hospital was ever presented. Israeli authorities presented digital animated video of a ‘Hamas headquarters’ they claimed was under the hospital, but the video was a fabrication with no actual evidence in real life of any fighters operating in the hospital or near it.
At the beginning of April, after over two weeks of military occupation of the hospital, Israeli troops withdrew, leaving behind “an empty shell” of what had been a technologically-advanced hospital facility, with nearly all the medical equipment reduced to ashes.
“Reports suggest that there were 30 Palestinian bodies buried in two graves in the courtyard of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City; one in front of the emergency building and the others in front of the dialysis building,” Ms. Shamdasani told journalists in Geneva.
The bodies of 12 Palestinians have now been identified from these locations at Al-Shifa, the OHCHR spokesperson continued, but identification has not yet been possible for the remaining individuals.
“There are reports that the hands of some of these bodies were also tied,” Ms. Shamdasani said, adding that there could be “many more” victims.
The Israeli military admitted to having killed more than 200 Palestinians during the Al-Shifa medical complex invasion. Many of those bodies were never recovered, and are suspected to be in mass graves under the rubble of the hospital.
According to local sources, nearly 400 bodies have been recovered from Al-Shifa medical complex so far.
Many of the bodies were:
– partially/completely decomposed
-zip tied and executed.
-some were run over by tanks.
-some had signs of torture [ fingernails and toenails pulled- teeth broken ].
Some of the 400 bodies discovered in mass graves at Nasser Hospital in Gaza.
According to reporting, these bodies include children with their hands tied behind their backs — murdered while in captivity, a direct breach of the Geneva Convention.
— Tiberius (@ecomarxi) April 22, 2024
