UN rights chief ‘horrified’ by mass grave reports at Gaza hospitals

Israel’s military said claims that it buried bodies there were “baseless”.

Ten hostages who have now been released have said that they were held at Nasser hospital for long periods during their captivity.

The IDF said that its forces had detained “about 200 terrorists who were in the hospital” during the raid, and that they found ammunition as well as unused medicines intended for Israeli hostages.

Medics who remained at Nasser after the Israeli takeover said they were unable to care for patients and that 13 died because of conditions there, including a lack of water, electricity and other supplies.

It also said that “numerous shallow graves” had been dug just outside the emergency department, and the administrative and surgical buildings, and that “many dead bodies were partially buried with their limbs visible”.

Spokeswoman Ms Shamdasani said reports seen by the UN human rights office suggested that a total of 30 bodies were buried in the two graves and that 12 of them had been identified so far.

“There are reports that the hands of some of these bodies were also tied,” she said, adding that “many more” people could have been killed than the 200 reported by the IDF.