The Al Nasser hospital, in the Gazan city of Khan Younis, was invaded and surrounded by Israeli troops on two occasions this year. The same happened with the largest of the Strip, Al Shifa, in the capital. They are the two main ones in Gaza and mass graves have been found in both after the withdrawal of troops, which has led the spokesman for the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, to ask for a “credible and independent” investigation. The trigger was the images of dozens of bodies removed by the health services from a grave in the Al Nasser compound. The civil defense, of the Hamas Government in Gaza, continues to excavate it and estimates that around 310 have been found there since Saturday, after adding another 35 this Tuesday. These are victims of the Israeli army, but it does not seem that they were buried (at least, for the most part) by the soldiers themselves, since the Palestinians themselves had been forced to bury their compatriots due to the siege they suffered in hospitals due to part of the Israelis and the state of the morgues full. They thus attempted to honor the Muslim rite of burying, whenever possible, within 24 hours of death. The question now lies in whether there were also soldiers who buried Palestinians there after killing them.
According to the civil defense, some bodies found show signs of having died with their hands tied. It can be sensed in the photo of one of them and would point to an execution. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has been “horrified” by the information. The Israeli army denies being responsible, although it admits having dug up bodies to check if they were hostages.
“We feel the need to sound the alarm because multiple bodies have clearly been discovered,” Türk’s spokesperson, Ravina Shamdasani, said on Tuesday. “Some had their hands tied, which of course indicates a serious violation of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.” Guterres’ spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, sees in the discovery of the grave in Khan Yunis “one more reason, if we still needed it, for all these sites to be fully investigated in a way that is credible and independent.” “And yet another reason why we need a ceasefire, to see an end to this conflict, more access for humanitarian personnel and goods, more protection of hospitals and for the hostages to be released,” he added.
Around the grave in Al Nasser, there are relatives or acquaintances looking for their loved ones, as can be seen in the television images. They know they were buried there, but they can’t find them. Some lifeless bodies are unearthed and with the white shroud that covers them open. In Islam, people are usually buried without a coffin.
The Israeli army has called the claim that its soldiers buried bodies “unfounded” and has admitted to having “examined” bodies that were buried there, “carefully and exclusively in places where intelligence indicated the possible presence of hostages.” . The Israeli army had already recognized a similar action at the Al Shifa hospital, to carry out DNA tests with the aim of confirming whether among the corpses were any of the (today 133) hostages in Gaza. International law requires respect for cemeteries and the marking of corpses so that relatives can know where to look after them.
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At the beginning of the month, Israel withdrew almost all its troops from southern Gaza, which has allowed some Palestinians to dare to approach from Rafah (the only uninvaded area and refuge for more than half of the population) to see the state. from their homes in Khan Yunis. This town remained occupied for weeks, with bombings and mass arrests.
The Armed Forces have also intensified their bombing in the north with an intensity unprecedented in weeks. It is the most devastated area and with the highest levels of malnutrition due to Israel’s decision to use hunger as a weapon of war, recently softened by pressure from the United States, as evidenced by the increase in humanitarian aid and the important opening of bakeries in the north. . It is estimated that a quarter to a third of the 1.1 million inhabitants who lived there before Israel ordered them to move south remain there, at the beginning of a war that is approaching seven months with more than 34,000 Palestinians dead. and without a horizon to conclude.
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