{"id":4271188,"date":"2024-04-24T07:50:53","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T14:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188///wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188//www.sbsun.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188//?p=4271188&preview=true&preview_id=4271188"},"modified":"2024-04-24T09:04:15","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T16:04:15","slug":"un-calls-for-investigation-into-mass-graves-uncovered-at-two-gaza-hospitals-raided-by-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188///wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188//www.sbsun.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188//2024/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188//04/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188//24/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188//un-calls-for-investigation-into-mass-graves-uncovered-at-two-gaza-hospitals-raided-by-israel/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188//","title":{"rendered":"UN calls for investigation into mass graves uncovered at two Gaza hospitals raided by Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

By EDITH M. LEDERER | Associated Press/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/n

UNITED NATIONS /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/u2014 The United Nations called Tuesday for /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/u201ca clear, transparent and credible investigation/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/u201d of mass graves uncovered at two major hospitals in war-torn Gaza that were raided by Israeli troops./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/n

Credible investigators must have access to the sites, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters, and added that more journalists need to be able to work safely in Gaza to report on the facts./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/n

Earlier Tuesday, U.N. human rights chief Volker T/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/u00fcrk said he was /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/u201chorrified/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/u201d by the destruction of the Shifa medical center in Gaza City and Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis as well as the reported discovery of mass graves in and around the facilities after the Israelis left./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/n

He called for independent and transparent investigations into the deaths, saying that /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/u201cgiven the prevailing climate of impunity, this should include international investigators./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/u201d/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/n

/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/u201cHospitals are entitled to very special protection under international humanitarian law,/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/u201d T/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/u00fcrk said. /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/u201cAnd the intentional killing of civilians, detainees and others who are /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/u2018hors de combat/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/u2019 (incapable of engaging in combat) is a war crime./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/u201d/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/n

U.S. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel on Tuesday called the reports of mass graves at the hospitals /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/u201cincredibly troubling/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/u201d and said U.S. officials have asked the Israeli government for information./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/n

The Israeli military said its forces exhumed bodies that Palestinians had buried earlier as part of its search for the remains of hostages captured by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war. The military said bodies were examined in a respectful manner and those not belonging to Israeli hostages were returned to their place./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/n

The Israeli military says it killed or detained hundreds of militants who had taken shelter inside the two hospital complexes, claims that could not be independently verified./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/n

The Palestinian civil defense in the Gaza Strip said Monday that it had uncovered 283 bodies from a temporary burial ground inside the main hospital in Khan Younis that was built 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 group said./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/n

The civil defense said some of the bodies were of people killed during the hospital siege. Others were killed when Israeli forces raided the hospital./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/n

Palestinian health officials say the hospital raids have destroyed Gaza/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/u2019s health sector as it tries to cope with the mounting toll from over six months of war./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/n

The issue of who could or should conduct an investigation remains in question./wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4271188/n