Third mass grave discovered at Gaza’s Al Shifa Hospital

mass grave

At least 49 bodies were found buried together near Gaza’s Al Shifa Hospital on May 8th marking the third mass grave discovered at the medical complex in recent weeks, according to AFP.  The discovery is the latest of seven mass graves found at medical facilities in Gaza after attacks by Israeli forces, with many of the bodies showing signs of execution, humiliation, and desecration.

Hamas called the discovery of the mass grave a “horror that has exceeded the limits of human imagination” deserving of international attention.

A local governmental media office stated that while “recovery operations were still ongoing,” more bodies were expected to be found and clarified that the dead include medical, nursing, and administrative staff who were working at the hospital.

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At the scene of the May 8th discovery, civil defence official Mohammad Massoud told The National that most of the bodies were unidentifiable due to decomposition and that many were not intact. He stated that “we found bones of children, women, and men,” adding that the bodies were handled “savagely” with no respect for the dead.

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Hamas has called on rights groups to gather evidence to be submitted to the International Criminal Court while Palestine’s UN envoy, Riyad Mansour, has urged its Security Council to call for independent investigations into the mass graves found at Al Shifa and Nasser hospitals.

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Mansour stressed the need to “establish the precise circumstances under which hundreds of Palestinians lost their lives and were buried, or reburied,” and that “the time for accountability is long past due.”

The seven mass graves discovered within hospital grounds around Gaza include three at Al Shifa, one at northern Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital, and another three at Al Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis.

READ: Israel besieges two more Gaza hospitals, two dead

A total of 520 bodies have been uncovered thus far, many of whom had been stripped naked and had their hands bound, while at least 20 of those discovered at the Al Nasser site were believed to have been buried alive, according to officials.

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Following the October 7th, 2023, Hamas attacks on southern Israel, its retaliatory campaign has killed more than 34,900 people in Gaza, with an estimated 10,000 missing, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry’s estimates.

Israel has rejected responsibility for the mass graves.

AFP / The National

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