Israel denies having buried hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza hospital – News

“Accusations that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) buried Palestinian bodies are unfounded,” the army said.

“During its operation at the Nasser hospital” in Khan Yunis, “to try to locate hostages and missing people, bodies buried by Palestinians were carefully examined, and only in places where intelligence services indicated the possible presence of hostages,” the Army added. , ensuring that “the dignity of the deceased was preserved”.

“The bodies examined, as they were not hostages, were returned to their places”, he explained.

The Gaza Strip Civil Defense said yesterday that, since Saturday, around 340 corpses had been exhumed and buried by Israeli forces in mass graves at the Nasser hospital in the south of the Palestinian territory. Some of them would have their hands tied behind their backs. The UN demanded an international investigation into these allegations.

“Obviously, images of mass graves in general are deeply disturbing, but I have no way of confirming their authenticity,” reacted US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

Gaza hospitals have frequently been targets of Israeli military operations since the start of the war, as they are considered bases for the Islamist movement Hamas.

The conflict began on October 7, with an incursion by Islamist militants who killed around 1,170 people in southern Israel and kidnapped around 250, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.

Following an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners during the week-long ceasefire in late November, 129 people remain captives in Gaza, of whom 34 are believed to have died, according to Israeli officials.

The Israeli offensive has so far left 34,183 people dead, most of them civilians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, governed by Hamas since 2007.