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<h1>Evidence of torture as nearly 400 bodies found in Gaza mass graves</h1><p class="gmail-article__subhead gmail-css-1wt8oh6"><em>Some victims found at two hospitals were ‘buried alive’ while others were ‘executed’ by the Israeli military.</em></p><div class="gmail-featured-media__image-wrap"><div class="gmail-video-shadow"><div class="gmail-pre_video-wrapper"></div></div></div><div class="gmail-featured-media__image-wrap"><div class="gmail-video-shadow"><div class="gmail-pre_video-wrapper"><div class="gmail-responsive-image"><img src="https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/AA-20240424-34367396-34367386-PALESTINIANS_DIG_UP_51_MORE_BODIES_FROM_MASS_GRAVE_IN_GAZAS_KHAN_YOUNIS-1714041539.jpg?resize=730%2C410&quality=80" alt="" width="394" height="221" style="margin-right: 0px;"></div></div></div><div class="gmail-video-duration__brand-bar"><span class="gmail-screen-reader-text">Video Duration 06 minutes 57 seconds </span><span aria-hidden="true" class="gmail-video-duration__duration">06:57</span></div></div><div class="gmail-article-info-block gmail-css-ti04u9"><div class="gmail-article-b-l" style="border-color:rgb(250,144,0)"><div class="gmail-article-dates" style="border-color:rgb(250,144,0)"><div class="gmail-date-simple gmail-css-1yjq2zp"><span class="gmail-screen-reader-text">Published On 25 Apr 2024</span><span aria-hidden="true"> - </span><font size="1"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/25/signs-of-torture-as-nearly-400-bodies-found-at-gaza-hospitals-mass-graves">https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/25/signs-of-torture-as-nearly-400-bodies-found-at-gaza-hospitals-mass-graves</a></font></div></div></div><div class="gmail-social-share-buttons"><div class="gmail-update-reading-list"></div></div></div><div class="gmail-update-reading-list"><span class="gmail-update-reading-list__tooltip" role="tooltip"></span></div><a class="gmail-social-share-button" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-label="Share on Facebook" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Faje.io%2F60m6r5"></a><a class="gmail-social-share-button" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-label="Share on Twitter" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Evidence%20of%20torture%20as%20nearly%20400%20bodies%20found%20in%20Gaza%20mass%20graves&source=sharethiscom&related=sharethis&via=AJEnglish&url=https%3A%2F%2Faje.io%2F60m6r5"></a><a class="gmail-social-share-button gmail-copylink" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-label="Copy link" href="https://aje.io/60m6r5"><span class="gmail-copylink__tooltip gmail-copylink__tooltip-hidden"></span></a><p>Mass graves found in <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/24/uncovering-of-mass-grave-at-gazas-nasser-hospital-what-you-need-to-know">two hospitals</a>
in the Gaza Strip containing 392 bodies, including those of women,
children and the elderly, showed signs of torture and executions,
officials in the enclave have said.</p>
<p>On the sixth consecutive day of digging up bodies in southern Gaza,
Palestinian Civil Defence officials on Thursday revealed horrifying new
details about the mass graves around the Nasser and al-Shifa hospitals.</p>
<p>Ten of the bodies were found with bound hands while others still had
medical tubes attached to them, indicating they may have been buried
alive, said civil defence member Mohammed Mughier.</p>
<p>“We need forensic examination for approximately 20 bodies for people who we think were buried alive,” Mughier said.</p>
<p>Yamen Abu Sulaiman, the head of the civil defence department in
southern Khan Younis where Nasser Hospital is located, said three
separate mass graves were found at the facility – one behind the morgue,
one in front of the morgue, and one near the dialysis building.</p>
<p>Only 65 bodies have been identified by relatives of 392 recovered due
to decomposition, mutilation and torture, or other difficulties, he
said, adding that bodies were “stacked together” and showed indications
of field executions having taken place.</p>
<p>At a news conference in southern Rafah on Thursday, Abu Sulaiman
called on the international community to exert pressure to “put an
immediate end to this aggression against our people”, as well as for
humanitarian organisations and international media to be let into Gaza
to “examine these crimes”.</p>
<p>Mughier, who provided photographic and video evidence of the remains
of children, said “why do we have children in mass graves?”, adding that
the evidence shows Israeli soldiers committed “crimes against
humanity”.</p>
<p><img class="gmail-size-arc-image-770 gmail-wp-image-2859066" src="https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Interactive_Mass_Graves_Gaza-1714047338.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C770&quality=80" alt="Interactive_Mass_Graves_Gaza-1714047338" width="394" height="394" style="margin-right: 0px;"></p>
<p>The United Nations human rights chief, Volker Turk, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/23/as-more-bodies-found-un-human-rights-chief-horrified-by-gaza-mass-graves">called for</a> an “independent, effective and transparent investigations” into the deaths.</p><p>“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 this week.</p>
<p>“We want answers. We want to see this thoroughly and transparently
investigated,” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told
reporters.</p>
<p>Israeli army spokesman Major Nadav Shoshani claimed the graves at
Nasser Hospital were “dug by Gazans a few months ago”. The Israeli
military has also confirmed digging up bodies from graves, but in a
stated effort to look for captives still held in the enclave.</p>
<p>Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro pointed
out that Sullivan did not call for an “independent” investigation,
meaning that the United States is content with Israel looking into the
matter.</p>
<p>“That is the major difference between the US’s call for an
investigation into the mass graves compared to that of other world
leaders and of the UN High Commissioner [for human rights],” she said.</p>
<p>Zhou-Castro said accountability stays even further out of reach.</p>
<p>“So as far as condemnation, sure, there is more of that happening now
in the US. As far as action, there is only action in support of
Israel.”</p>
<p>US President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed into law a $94bn foreign funding bill that will provide Israel with <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/24/biden-signs-law-securing-billions-in-us-aid-for-ukraine-israel">$17bn in additional aid</a>
despite growing international calls to restrict US assistance to the
Israeli military, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in
Gaza.</p>
<p>“This is a new level of criminality that I thought the Israelis were
too smart to get involved with,” said Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s
senior political analyst.</p>
<p>“The ugliness and the tragedy of the scenes and the mindset behind it
– done by the Israelis against the hospital, against the refugee camp –
is something that we have never seen before and that is something that
is going to stay with us for a while,” he added.</p>
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