The Palestinian Civil Defence has uncovered almost 400 Palestinian corpses buried under ground. An official from the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza announced that workers have identified 165 bodies at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the area earlier this month. The rest are still to be identified.

According to the official from the Palestinian Civil Defence ‘We found three mass graves, the first in front of the morgue, the second behind the morgue, and the third north of the dialysis building.’ (1)

The CNN reported that one of its sources ‘who visited the scene on Sunday and Monday saw several decomposed bodies in surgical gowns. Photos CNN has reviewed show several bodies still wearing hospital wristbands.’ (2)

Mohammed Al Mighayyer of the Palestinian Civil Defence says he ‘witnessed the presence of children’s bodies in the mass graves at the Nasser Medical Complex, which proves crimes of genocide.’ (3)

The UN has called for the preservation of evidence of mass graves in the Gaza Strip after 390 bodies were found at two different burial sites outside the Nasser and al-Shifa hospitals. (4)

For the human right organisation Amnesty International ‘Mass grave sites are potential crime scenes offering vital and time-sensitive forensic evidence; they must be protected until professional forensic experts with the necessary skills and resources can safely carry out adequate exhumations and accurate identification of remains’. (5)

Amnesty adds that ‘Amid a total vacuum of accountability and mounting evidence of war crimes in Gaza, Israeli authorities must ensure they comply with the ICJ ruling by granting immediate access to independent human rights investigators and ensuring that all evidence of violations is preserved. Third states must pressure Israel to comply with the ICJ orders by allowing the immediate entry into the Gaza Strip of independent human rights investigators and forensic experts, including the UN-appointed Commission of Inquiry and investigators of the International Criminal Court.’ (6)

The Palestinian Return Centre said an independent investigation on the serious pattern of mass buried bodies left behind by Israel’s genocidal military campaign is critically important. It is urgent to use this latest atrocity as evidence inculpating Israel of the crime of genocide and to bring its brutal assault on Palestinians in Gaza to an end.

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1) https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/25/middleeast/gaza-400-bodies-mass-grave-hospital-intl/index.html

2) https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/25/middleeast/gaza-400-bodies-mass-grave-hospital-intl/index.html

3) Ibid

4) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-palestine-news-gaza-mass-graves-rafah-latest-b2535125.html

5) https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/04/gaza-discovery-of-mass-graves-highlights-urgent-need-to-grant-access-to-independent-human-rights-investigators/

6) https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/04/gaza-discovery-of-mass-graves-highlights-urgent-need-to-grant-access-to-independent-human-rights-investigators/