It has been suggested that this article be merged into Nasser Hospital siege . (Discuss) Proposed since April 2024. |
Nasser Hospital mass graves | |
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Part of Gaza mass graves during the Israel–Hamas war | |
Location | Nasser Hospital, Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip |
Date | 20 April 2024 (discovery) |
Deaths | 310+ |
The Nasser Hospital mass graves were discovered on 20 April 2024 by Palestinian families returning to Nasser Hospital after the withdrawal of Israeli forces following the Nasser Hospital siege, a major event in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. [1] According to independent analysis, the graves were discovered in the same location as earlier mass burials by Palestinians. [2]
Since the start of the war, Israel has attacked, damaged or destroyed nearly every hospital in the Gaza Strip. [3] In January 2024, the Gaza Health Ministry said that 40 bodies were buried inside the hospital due to "the siege on the neighbourhoods close to Nasser [Hospital]". [4] A Nasser Hospital official had told journalists in January that hospital staff had buried around 150 bodies in the hospital's yard. [5]
The hospital was shelled multiple times throughout the war and received significant international media coverage after the death of a 13-year-old amputee, Donia Abu Mohsen, who had survived a previous Israeli airstrike that had killed her entire family. [6] [7] [8] Nasser Hospital was reported to be non-functional after a February Israeli raid. [9]
Israeli soldiers entered the hospital on 15 February 2024 from the south; according to a spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry they destroyed tents and bulldozed a mass grave. [10] [11] [12] Israel stated it exhumed and examined some 400 corpses looking for Israeli hostages. [13] [lower-alpha 1]
Due to power outages during the entry of Israeli soldiers into the hospital, five patients in the hospital died. [15] On 18 February, the World Health Organization said the hospital could no longer serve its patients, and that the hospital was no longer functional. [16] Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attributed the hospital's inability to continue operating to the Israeli siege and raid. [16]
As of 23 February, the hospital no longer had food, water or oxygen for patients. [17] The Gaza Health Ministry attributed thirteen patient deaths to the lack of electricity and oxygen at the hospital. [17]
Mass graves had previously been discovered at Al-Shifa Hospital after the siege there ended earlier in 2024. [18]
The mass graves were discovered within the hospital itself after the retreat of Israeli soldiers in April 2024. [19] Local officials stated that several of the bodies were found with their hands and feet bound. [20] The casualties include children and elderly women. [18] Some bodies were also found buried under piles of waste. [21]
By 22 April, 283 bodies had been recovered from one mass grave, while rescue workers reported two additional graves had yet to be exhumed. [22] 42 bodies were identified. A spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said that there were "allegedly older people, women and wounded" among the dead and others that had their hands tied and were stripped of clothes. [23] A spokesman for Palestinian Civil Defense said some of the bodies found were handcuffed, shot in the head or wearing detainee uniforms. [5] The Civil Defense stated they believed approximately 20 people had been buried alive. [24] The Palestinian civil defense said that the 283 bodies were from a temporary burial area dug during the siege. People were not able to access cemeteries at the time and buried the dead in the hospital yard. The group said that some of the casualties were from the siege and others were from the raid. [25]
On 25 April, Palestinian journalist Akram al-Satarri reported that many of the bodies that continue to be unearthed show signs of torture, mutilation, and summary execution. According to Palestinian civil officials, some bodies also still had medical devices attached from their stay in the hospital. [26] The three mass graves were thought to contain a total of about 700 bodies. [27]
According to a report by France24, based on analysis of photographs and video, the location of the exhumations is around the same area as the earlier mass burials, but there is no way to verify how many bodies were buried there prior to the Israeli withdrawal in April 2024. [2] Geoconfirmed presented a similar analysis, saying that the exhumations took place at the same location as the earlier mass burials conducted by Palestinians, although they didn't exclude the possibility that the graves had been added to by Israeli forces. [28]
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said the attack indicated "serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law." [21]
The Israeli Defence Forces said the accusations of them causing the killings were "baseless and unfounded." [20] The IDF said that during its operation "in the area of Nasser Hospital, in accordance to the effort to locate hostages and missing persons, corpses buried by Palestinians in the area of Nasser Hospital were examined." [20] They further stated that "Bodies examined, which did not belong to Israeli hostages, were returned to their place." [20] [5] Sky News published an analysis of satellite imagery and social media footage of mass graves dug by Palestinians during Israel's siege, which were later bulldozed by the IDF. [29]
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation called for a probe into the mass graves, terming them "a war crime, a crime against humanity, and organised state terrorism". [30] A spokesperson for Al-Haq stated, "Initial reports from Nasser Hospital show that some of the bodies of the killed people had their hands tied behind their back". [31] Marwan Bishara, the senior political analyst for Al Jazeera English, stated, "Israel might be able to resist this politically and legally, but this is going to enter history." [32]
United Nations rights chief Volker Türk said that he was "horrified" by the site and called for an international investigation. [5] Geoffrey Robertson, an international lawyer and professor, called for an investigation, stating, "It's a crime against humanity. This case cries out for an independent inquiry. And the sooner, the better." [33] According to Al Jazeera English, the US deputy ambassador to the UN stated the United States was not supporting calls for an independent investigation. [34] The International Rescue Committee called for "an immediate international and independent investigation". [35] Antonio Guterres stated, "It is imperative that independent international investigators, with forensic expertise, are allowed immediate access to the sites of these mass graves, to establish the precise circumstances under which hundreds of Palestinians lost their lives and were buried, or reburied." [36]
When asked if Israel would investigate the mass graves, an IDF spokesperson stated, "Investigate what? We gave answers." [37] Kenneth Roth, the former head of Amnesty International, stated an investigation "would require simply cooperation by both sides, but Israel doesn't want to allow these kinds of independent investigations". [38]
A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of execution, although an exact definition is not unanimously agreed upon. Mass graves are usually created after many people die or are killed, and there is a desire to bury the corpses quickly for sanitation concerns. Although mass graves can be used during major conflicts such as war and crime, in modern times they may be used after a famine, epidemic, or natural disaster. In disasters, mass graves are used for infection and disease control. In such cases, there is often a breakdown of the social infrastructure that would enable proper identification and disposal of individual bodies.
The Nasser Hospital was one of the largest hospitals in the Gaza Strip, Palestine.
Israeli war crimes are the violations of international criminal law, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of genocide, which the Israel Defense Forces, the military branch of the state of Israel, has been accused of committing since the founding of Israel in 1948. These have included murder, intentional targeting of civilians, killing prisoners of war and surrendered combatants, indiscriminate attacks, collective punishment, starvation, the use of human shields, sexual violence and rape, torture, pillage, forced transfer, breach of medical neutrality, targeting journalists, attacking civilian and protected objects, wanton destruction, incitement to genocide, and genocide.
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Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in Gaza, was placed under siege by Israel in mid-November 2023 during the Israel–Hamas war, after saying it had contained a Hamas command and control center beneath it. The incident was followed by a second major raid by Israeli forces in March 2024.
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The battle of Khan Yunis, which evolved into the siege of Khan Yunis in late January, began on 1 December 2023 in the midst of the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.
During the Israel–Hamas war, the healthcare system of Gaza was destroyed by Israeli attacks on hospitals and health facilities, killing of healthcare workers, and blockade of medical supplies from entering Gaza. The resulting collapse of the healthcare system was part of a broader humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip caused by the war.
More than 685 health workers have been killed and 900 wounded during attacks on medical facilities and medical transport in the Israel-Hamas War. Although the injuries happened both on the Israeli side and on the Palestinian side, most of these attacks were carried out by Israeli forces against Palestinians.
The following is a list of events during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2024.
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Hind Rajab was a six-year-old Palestinian girl from the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood in Gaza City who was killed by the Israeli military, after being the sole survivor of Israeli tank fire on the vehicle in which she had fled with six relatives.
During the Israel–Hamas war, the Nasser Hospital faced multiple attacks, including a siege and raid in January and February 2024. The hospital siege by Israeli forces created severe shortages of food, anesthesia, and painkillers. Reports emerged of Israeli snipers targeting individuals outside the hospital. Despite international calls for restraint, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ordered the evacuation of displaced people inside the hospital on 13 February 2024. On 15 February, Israeli soldiers raided the hospital. The hospital had completely ceased functioning by March 2024.
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