Medical teams in Gaza have discovered a third mass grave inside the Al-Shifa medical complex, from which 49 bodies have been retrieved so far, indicating that the "recovery process is still ongoing," according to the government media office in the sector, announced on Wednesday.
According to the office, the number of mass graves found in hospitals has risen to 7: one in Kamal Adwan Hospital, three in Al-Shifa medical complex, and three in Nasser medical complex, with a total of 520 bodies retrieved from these graves to date.
In April, the Israeli military denied the claims made by Palestinians regarding mass graves and possible executions in a hospital in Gaza, stating that it had indeed extracted bodies in an attempt to locate hostages held by Hamas since October.
There is no definition of a mass grave in international law; however, it is a burial site containing numerous bodies, and its presence could be significant in monitoring potential war crimes.
The discovery of mass graves in hospitals in the Gaza Strip has prompted calls from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and others for an international investigation.
