UN chiefs 'horrified' about reports of mass graves at hospitals in Gaza

The UN’s human rights chief said he is “horrified” about the reported discovery of mass graces at two Gaza hospitals.

Volker Türk made a statement on Tuesday, after hundreds of bodies were uncovered at Shifa Medical Centre in Gaza City and Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis following the withdrawal of Israeli troops.

He said: “Given the prevailing climate of impunity, this should include international investigators.

“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 (non-combatants) is a war crime.”

The UN has called for "a clear, transparent and credible investigation" carried out by credible investigators given full access to the sites.

Palestinian officials said on Monday that they exhumed 283 bodies from a temporary burial ground which was built at Nasser when Israeli forces were besieging the facility last month.

At the time, people were not able to bury the dead in a cemetery and dug graves in the hospital yard, the Palestinian civil defence said.

The IDF said its forces exhumed bodies that Palestinians had buried earlier as part of its search for the remains of hostages captured by Hamas.

The military said bodies were examined in a respectful manner and those not belonging to Israeli hostages were returned to their place.

Israel says it killed or detained hundreds of militants who had taken shelter inside two hospital complexes (Shifa medical center in Gaza City and Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis), claims that could not be independently verified.

The UN has also said that more journalists need to be able to work safely in Gaza to report on the facts.

Since Hamas’ attack on October 7, the Israel-Gaza war has led to the deadliest period for journalists since the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) started gathering this data in 1992.

At least 97 journalists and media workers have been identified in Gaza’s high death toll, according to the CPJ’s most recent data published on Tuesday.

In October, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told Reuters and Agence France Press news agencies that it could not guarantee the safety of their journalists operating in the Gaza Strip.

US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel on Tuesday called the reports of mass graves at the hospitals "incredibly troubling" and said US officials have asked the Israeli government for information.

The issue of who could or should conduct an investigation remains in question.

For the United Nations to conduct an investigation, one of its major bodies would have to authorise it, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

"I think it's not for anyone to prejudge the results or who would do it," he said, "I think it needs to be an investigation where there is access and there is credibility."

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, said after visiting Israel and the West Bank in December that a probe by the court into possible crimes by Hamas militants and Israeli forces "is a priority for his office."

The discovery of the graves "is another reason why we need a ceasefire, why we need to see an end to this conflict, why we need to see greater access for humanitarians, for humanitarian goods, greater protection for hospitals" and for the release of Israeli hostages, Mr Dujarric said Monday.

In the Hamas attack that triggered the current fighting, militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel says the militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

In response, Israel's air and ground offensive in Gaza, aimed at eliminating Hamas, has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials.

They do not differentiate between civilian and combat deaths, but claim that around two-thirds of the death toll is made up of children and women.

The war has devastated Gaza's two largest cities, created a humanitarian crisis and led around 80 per cent of the territory's population to flee to other parts of the besieged coastal enclave.