Gaza’s Civil Defence agency said nearly 340 bodies were uncovered of people killed and buried by Israeli forces at the Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis.
The Israeli army said claims it had buried Palestinian bodies were “baseless”, without directly addressing allegations that Israeli troops were behind the killings.
The army said that “corpses buried by Palestinians” had been examined by Israeli troops searching for hostages and then “returned to their place”.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk called for an “independent” probe into the deaths at the Nasser Hospital and Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, noting the “special protection” awarded to medical facilities under international law.
AFP images from the scene showed numerous bodies under white shrouds in front of the bombed-out Nasser Hospital.
UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said some of the bodies found at the Nasser Hospital were allegedly “found with their hands tied and stripped of their clothes”, adding that efforts were underway to corroborate the reports.
The White House said it would discuss the matter with Israel.
“Obviously scenes of mass graves in general are deeply concerning but I don’t have anything that can confirm the veracity of those,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
CALL TO RENEW UN AGENCY FUNDING
The European Union’s humanitarian chief Janez Lenarcic called on donor governments to fund the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, which has been central to aid operations in Gaza.
His comment came after a much-awaited independent report found that “Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence” for its claim that UNRWA employs “terrorists”.
The report did find “neutrality-related issues”, such as agency staff sharing biased posts on social media.
After the report was released, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini called for an investigation into the “blatant disregard” for UN operations in Gaza, adding that 180 of the agency’s staff have been killed since the war began.
While some governments have renewed funding for the agency, the United States and Britain are among the holdouts.
The White House would “have to see real progress” before it restores funding, Kirby said.
The Gaza war has triggered violence across the region, with deadly cross-border exchanges on Tuesday between the Israeli army and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, a Hamas ally.
