U.S. PRESSES ISRAEL FOR INFORMATION ON 'DISTURBING' REPORTS OF MASS GRAVES AT GAZA HOSPITALS

U.S. Presses Israel for Information on 'Disturbing' Reports of Mass Graves at Gaza Hospitals

Israeli officials have rejected the claims as 'baseless and unfounded,' stating that as part of the efforts to locate hostages 'corpses buried by Palestinians in the area of Nasser Hospital were examined.' The IDF added that the search was done 'exclusively in places where intelligence indicated the possible presence of hostages'

April 25th, 18PM April 25th, 19PM

WASHINGTON – The U.S. called reports of mass graves at two Gaza hospitals "troubling and disturbing," noting it has pressed Israel for further information.

"The allegations are troubling, they are disturbing, we take them very seriously, and we're continuing to press the Government of Israel for more information," said State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel.

"It's our understanding the IDF has spoken to some of this publicly," Vedant noted, "they have stated that in search of Israeli hostages, they have uncovered graves in the area where Palestinians had previously been buried. And after determining that no hostages were there, these graves were recovered."

"Obviously, the IDF can speak to – specifically about their operations in the region. But we're also continuing to press the Government of Israel for more information onto what this is and what the circumstances are here. And when we have that information, we'll be happy to share that with you," Patel added.

Barbara Leaf, the State Department's top Middle East diplomat, echoed that the U.S. has "seen those reports; we have asked for information. I don't have anything as yet to share."

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said, "Those reports were deeply disturbing. We have been in touch at multiple levels with the Israeli government. We want answers. We want to understand exactly what happened. You've seen some public commentary from the IDF on that, but we want to know the specifics of what the circumstances of this were."

"We want to see this thoroughly and transparently investigated so that the whole world can have a comprehensive answer and we, the United States, can as well. I can't speak beyond that because, of course, we're in the early days of fully understanding what happened," Sullivan added.

The U.S. comments come as UN human rights chief Volker Turk said he was "horrified" by the reported graves at the Nasser and Al-Shifa medical complexes, calling for an "independent, effective and transparent investigation."

Gazan officials reported finding more than 380 bodies at the two sites, alleging some of the bodies carried signs of field executions, with hands and feet tied.

Israeli officials have rejected the claims as "baseless and unfounded," stating "during the IDF's operation in the area of Nasser Hospital, in accordance to the effort to locate hostages and missing persons, corpses buried by Palestinians in the area of Nasser Hospital were examined." The Israeli military added that the examination was done "exclusively in places where intelligence indicated the possible presence of hostages."

2024-04-25T15:12:21Z dg43tfdfdgfd