The United Nations on Tuesday called for a “clear, transparent and credible investigation” into mass graves discovered at two main hospitals in the war-torn Gaza Strip, which were raided by Israeli forces.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that reliable investigators must have access to the scene, adding that more journalists needed to be able to work safely in Gaza to report the facts. .
Earlier on Tuesday, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said he was “horrified” by the destruction of Shifa Medical Center in Gaza City and Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis, and the reported discovery of mass graves in and around the facilities. “I feel that,” he said. After the Israelites left.
Pelosi calls on Prime Minister Netanyahu to resign, slams him as ‘obstacle’ to peace efforts
He called for an independent and transparent investigation into the deaths, saying: “Given the prevailing climate of impunity, this should include international investigators.”
“Hospitals are entitled to very special protection under international humanitarian law,” Turk said. “And the intentional killing of civilians, detainees, and other ‘uncombatable’ persons is a war crime.”
U.S. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said Tuesday that reports of mass graves at hospitals were “incredibly disturbing” and that U.S. officials had asked the Israeli government for information.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk speaks at a press conference in Baghdad, Iraq, on August 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban, File)
The Israeli military said its forces had dug up bodies previously buried by Palestinians as part of a search for the bodies of hostages taken in the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war. The military said the bodies were respectfully examined and those not belonging to Israeli hostages were returned to their original locations.
The Israeli military has said it has killed or captured hundreds of militants who had taken shelter inside two hospital complexes, but it could not be independently verified.
The Palestinian Civil Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip announced on Monday that they had discovered 283 bodies in a temporary burial site inside the main hospital in Khan Yunis, which was built when Israeli forces besieged the facility last month. According to the group, at that time people were unable to bury their dead in cemeteries, so they dug graves in hospital gardens.
Civil defense officials said some of the bodies were those killed during the hospital siege. Some died when Israeli forces attacked the hospital.
Palestinian health officials said the attack destroyed hospitals in Gaza as they try to cope with mounting casualties in more than six months of war.
The question of who can or should conduct an investigation remains in question.
Mr. Dujarric said that for the United Nations to carry out an investigation, one of the main agencies would have to approve the investigation.
“I don’t think it’s anyone’s business to prejudge the outcome, who’s going to do it,” he said. “I think there needs to be an investigation that is accessible and reliable.”
Karim Khan, chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, said after visiting Israel and the West Bank in December that the court’s investigation into possible crimes by Hamas militants and the Israeli military “is a priority of my office.” Yes,” he said.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The discovery of the graves is “another reason why we need a ceasefire, why we need an end to this conflict, why we need to expand access to humanitarian workers and supplies, and improve hospitals. Do we need to increase protection?” Dujarric said on Monday that he had released the Israeli hostages.
In the Hamas attack that sparked the war, the militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted about 250 hostages. Israel said insurgents were still holding about 100 hostages and the bodies of more than 30 others.
By contrast, Israeli air and ground attacks in the Gaza Strip aimed at eliminating Hamas have killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, about two-thirds of whom have been killed, according to local health officials. are children and women. It destroyed Gaza’s two largest cities, sparking a humanitarian crisis and forcing around 80% of the Gaza Strip’s population to flee to other parts of the besieged coastal enclave.
