United Nations calls for an investigation into mass graves found at Palestinian hospitals

The United Nations Human Rights office called for an investigation on Tuesday, into the hundreds of bodies that were found in mass graves at two major hospitals in the Gaza Strip over the weekend.

The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in central Gaza, and the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City were both previously under assault from Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) after it claimed that Hamas militants were inside among the wounded, according to the Hill. Israel's attacks on the sites where the bodies were found prompted calls by U.N. officials, including U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk, for a “clear, transparent and credible” investigation into the graves that are independent from the Israeli government.

There were 283 bodies found in mass graves at the Nasser hospital alone, according to a UN report, and only 42 of which were identified. Roughly 30 bodies were found in two graves at the Al-Shifa hospital, including 12 identified as Palestinians.

“Among the [overall] deceased were allegedly older people, women and wounded, while others were found tied with their hands…tied and stripped of their clothes,” Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in the report.

Türk said the discovery of the mass graves has opened the possibility of Israel committing war crimes.

“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’ is a war crime," Turk said. "Every 10 minutes a child is killed or wounded. They are protected under the laws of war, and yet they are ones who are disproportionately paying the ultimate price in this war."

The Israeli government said the IDF had already exhumed the bodies in the mass graves in order to look for any Israeli hostages that had been captured by Hamas. It is not clear whether any were found. 

United States State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said the reports of the mass graves were "incredibly troubling" and that U.S. officials have asked the Israeli government for additional information, per the Associated Press.