Evidence of torture as nearly 400 bodies found in Gaza mass graves

Mass graves found in two hospitals in the Gaza Strip containing 392 bodies, including those of women, children and the elderly, showed signs of torture and executions, officials in the enclave have said.

On the sixth consecutive day of digging up bodies in southern Gaza, Palestinian Civil Defence officials on Thursday revealed horrifying new details about the mass graves around the Nasser and al-Shifa hospitals.

Ten of the bodies were found with bound hands while others still had medical tubes attached to them, indicating they may have been buried alive, said civil defence member Mohammed Mughier.

“We need forensic examination for approximately 20 bodies for people who we think were buried alive,” Mughier said.

Yamen Abu Sulaiman, the head of the civil defence department in southern Khan Younis where Nasser Hospital is located, said three separate mass graves were found at the facility – one behind the morgue, one in front of the morgue, and one near the dialysis building.

Only 65 bodies have been identified by relatives of 392 recovered due to decomposition, mutilation and torture, or other difficulties, he said, adding that bodies were “stacked together” and showed indications of field executions having taken place.

At a news conference in southern Rafah on Thursday, Abu Sulaiman called on the international community to exert pressure to “put an immediate end to this aggression against our people”, as well as for humanitarian organisations and international media to be let into Gaza to “examine these crimes”.

Mughier, who provided photographic and video evidence of the remains of children, said “why do we have children in mass graves?”, adding that the evidence shows Israeli soldiers committed “crimes against humanity”.

The United Nations human rights chief, Volker Turk, called for an “independent, effective and transparent investigations” into the deaths.

“Hospitals are entitled to very special protection under international humanitarian law, and the intentional killing of civilians, detainees and others who are hors de combat is a war crime,” Turk said this week.

“We want answers. We want to see this thoroughly and transparently investigated,” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters.

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed into law a $94bn foreign funding bill that will provide Israel with $17bn in additional aid despite growing international calls to restrict US assistance to the Israeli military, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza.