GENEVA - The United Nations’ human rights chief said on Tuesday that he was “horrified” by reports of mass graves containing hundreds of bodies in the ruins of two hospitals in Gaza, according to a spokesperson.
The UN called for an international investigation into the reports, saying war crimes may have been committed.
Palestinian authorities reported finding scores of bodies in mass graves at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis this week after it was abandoned by Israeli troops. Bodies were also reported at the Al Shifa site following an Israeli special forces operation.
“We feel the need to raise the alarm because clearly there have been multiple bodies discovered,” said Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, adding that commission chief Volker Turk said he had been horrified by the reported mass grave discoveries and the hospitals’ destruction.
“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,” Ms Shamdasani said.
She added that the UN human rights office was working on corroborating Palestinian officials’ reports that 283 bodies were found at Nasser and 30 at Al Shifa.
According to those reports, some of the bodies were buried beneath piles of waste and included women and older people.
The Hamas-run Civil Emergency Service said on Tuesday that a total of 310 bodies had been found at one mass grave at Nasser so far and that two other graves had been identified, but not yet excavated.
The israeli military issued a statement rejecting allegations that its forces buried Palestinians in mass graves at Gaza hospitals.
Israel has long maintained that Hamas militants use hospitals as their bases. It said its forces had killed around 200 militants at Al Shifa and avoided harming any civilians.
Turk also decried Israeli strikes on Gaza in recent days, which he said had killed mostly women and children.
He also repeated a warning against a full-scale Israeli incursion on the southern Gaza city of Rafah where some 1.2 million civilians are crowded together, saying this could lead to “further atrocity crimes”.
Violence has also surged in the occupied West Bank since Israel’s war on Hamas began on Oct 7, sparked by the latter’s cross-border attacks on Israel which killed 1,200 people according to Israeli tallies.
Palestinian health authorities said 14 Palestinians had been killed on Saturday in the Nur Shams area in one of the heaviest tolls in the West Bank in months.
Shamdasani said the UN human rights office had received reports that some the victims in Nur Shams had been killed in apparent extrajudicial executions.
Israel’s military has previously said a number of militants were killed or arrested in the West Bank raid and at least four soldiers wounded.