ISRAELI ARMY DENIES CLAIM IT DUG MASS GRAVE IN GAZA, SAYS IT SEARCHED FOR HOSTAGES' BODIES

Israeli Army Denies Claim It Dug Mass Grave in Gaza, Says It Searched for Hostages' Bodies

Hamas claims hundreds of bodies were found in mass graves near Khan Yunis' Nasser Hospital, placing blame on the IDF ■ IDF vehemently denies the accusation, calling it 'baseless and unfounded'

April 23rd, 18PM April 23rd, 19PM

Israel's military rejected on Tuesday Hamas' allegations of mass burials and possible executions at a Gaza hospital, saying it had exhumed corpses to try to find hostages taken by Hamas in October.

Gaza health authorities, run by Hamas, claimed that hundreds of bodies have been recovered from "mass graves" on the site of the main hospital in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, which was abandoned by Israeli troops earlier this month.

The Israel Defense Forces said "The claim that the IDF buried Palestinian bodies is baseless and unfounded," adding that its forces returned bodies to where they had been buried after they were exhumed and examined.

"The examination was conducted in a careful manner and exclusively in places where intelligence indicated the possible presence of hostages. The examination was carried out respectfully while maintaining the dignity of the deceased," the Israeli army continued.

According to reports in Reuters, emergency workers in white hazmat suits had been seen digging near the ruins of Nasser Hospital. They reportedly dug corpses out of the ground with hand tools and a digger truck. The emergency services said 73 more bodies had been found at the site in the past day, raising the number found over the week to 283.

On Tuesday, UN rights chief Volker Turk said that he was "horrified" by the destruction of the Nasser and Al-Shifa medical facilities in Gaza and reports of mass graves discovered there.

"We feel the need to raise the alarm because clearly there have been multiple bodies discovered," said Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for Turk, adding that "some of them had their hands tied, which of course indicates serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and these need to be subjected to further investigations."

Shamdasani also stated that the UN human rights office was working on corroborating Palestinian officials' reports, including one that 30 bodies were found at Al-Shifa. According to those reports, some of the bodies were buried beneath piles of waste and included women and older people.

In February, IDF special forces entered Nasser Hospital following intelligence that some hostages were being held at the facility. According to the Israeli army, some hostages who were freed contributed to the intelligence gathering.

However, the army later said there was no evidence that Hamas held hostages at the hospital. The army did say it had detained dozens of terrorists in the hospital, among them many who had participated in the October 7 attack on Israel, and had also discovered weapons caches.

2024-04-23T15:34:32Z dg43tfdfdgfd