Gaza’s Civil Defense finds hundreds of new bodies in mass graves at Nasser Hospital – Mondoweiss

Casualties 

• 34,183 + killed* and at least 77,084 wounded in the Gaza Strip.*
• 487+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.**
• Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,139.
• 604 Israeli soldiers have been killed since October 7, and at least 6,800 injured.***

*Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed this figure on its Telegram channel on April 20, 2024. Some rights groups estimate the death toll to be much higher when accounting for those presumed dead.

** The death toll in the West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to the PA’s Ministry of Health on April 22, this is the latest figure.

*** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.” The number of Israeli soldiers wounded is according to Israeli media reports.

Key Developments 

• Israel kills 208 Palestinians, wounds 313 over the weekend across Gaza, raising the death toll since October 7 to 34,183 and the number of wounded to 77,084, according to the Gaza health ministry.
• Amnesty International says there is a need for independent investigators in Gaza’s mass graves.
• Israeli army withdraws the elite “Nahal” unit from the Gaza Strip after six months of fighting.
• The European Parliament condemns “excessive use of force” by Israel in Gaza.
• Israeli army admits 11 soldiers wounded in Gaza Strip fighting.
• Egypt’s Sisi repeats his country’s rejection of the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.
• Palestinian medical teams find 392 bodies at the Nasser hospital.
• Number of journalists killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza rises to 141 since October 7.

Israel kills 208 Palestinians over the week

The Gaza-based Palestinian health ministry announced that 208 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since Monday, while 313 others were wounded.

Meanwhile, in the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli forces continued to shell the al-Zeitoun neighborhood and other areas in Gaza city.

In the central Gaza Strip, Israeli air strikes targeted the Wadi Gaza bridge area, killing at least four Palestinians on Wednesday. More Israeli strikes targeted the north of Nuseirat, al-Maghazi, and the east of al-Bureij refugee camp.

In the southern Gaza Strip, Israeli forces bombed at least three family houses in Rafah and continued to shell several parts of Khan Younis. Meanwhile, Palestinian medical teams continued to recover hundreds of dead bodies in mass graves at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

Palestinian Civil Defense recovered 392 dead bodies at Nasser Hospital

Hundreds of dead bodies were found at the Nasser Hospital’s surroundings in Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Civil Defense said on Thursday.

The Civil Defense announced in a press conference that since Wednesday alone, 392 bodies had been found in mass graves, many of whom had been identified as missing for weeks, while 58% of the bodies haven’t been identified.

Muhammad al-Mughayyir, director of the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza, said that some 20 bodies were buried while medical and medication tubes were still connected to their bodies, suggesting that they might have been buried alive. Al-Mughayyir added that the bodies showed signs of torture.

According to the Civil Defense spokesperson, the bodies were buried contrary to the customary burial rituals practiced by Palestinians in Gaza. Many of them were wrapped several times in plastic bags, which accelerated their decomposition process beyond recognition.

Palestinian medical and civil defense teams have been finding dead bodies in Khan Younis on a daily basis since the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the city earlier in April. Israeli forces had raided the Nasser hospital and forcibly evacuated medical staff from it in March while arresting hundreds of Palestinians who had taken refuge in its surroundings.

According to the Gaza health ministry, some 7,000 Palestinians have been missing across the Gaza Strip since October 7.

Israeli forces kill a Palestinian in Ramallah

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teenager on Thursday during a military raid into the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

The victim was identified as Khaled Oruq, 16, from Jenin. The teenager was in the al-Tireh neighborhood in Ramallah when Israeli forces entered the area and were confronted by local young men with stone-throwing.

Israeli forces opened fire at the youngsters, wounding Oruq in the abdomen. He was taken to the city’s public hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Oruq’s body was taken back to his hometown in Jenin, where hundreds of Palestinians took part in his funeral on Thursday afternoon. With his killing, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since October 7 has risen to 488.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces arrested 52 Palestinians since ٍSunday night in raids across the West Bank, especially Hebron, Ramallah, Jerusalem, and Tulkarem. On Wednesday, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said in a statement that the number of Palestinians arrested since October 7 had reached 8,455.

Currently, Israel holds 9,500 Palestinians in its jails, including 200 children, 80 women, and more than 3,600 detainees held without charge or trial.