UN Official 'Horrified By Gaza Mass Graves'

The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, has said he is "horrified" by reports of mass graves containing hundreds of bodies at two of Gaza's largest hospitals.

- Ruth Michaelson 

Palestinian civil defence teams began exhuming bodies from a mass grave outside the Nasser hospital complex in Khan Younis last week after Israeli troops withdrew. A total of 310 bodies have been found in the last week, including 35 in the past day, Palestinian officials have said. "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.

She described bodies "buried deep in the ground and covered with waste", adding that "among the deceased were allegedly older people, women and wounded", including some bound and stripped of their clothes. "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," she said.

Palestinian rescue teams and several observation missions from the UN also reported the discovery of multiple mass grave sites in the Shifa hospital compound in Gaza City earlier this month, after Israeli ground troops withdrew following a prolonged siege.

Medics working for Doctors Without Borders described how Israeli forces attacked Nasser hospital in late January before withdrawing a month later, leaving the facility unable to function.