UN calls for 'credible' investigation on reports of mass grave in Gaza

The UN, on Monday, described the reports of mass grave in Gaza as “extremely troubling” and called for a “credible” investigation into the sites where the grave is located, Anadolu Agency reports.

“Yet another reason is, if we needed one, for all of these sites to be fully investigated, in a way that is credible and independent,” Spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said at a press briefing when asked about the uncovering of at least 283 bodies of people from a mass grave at the Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis.

Dujarric said a ceasefire is needed “to see an end to this conflict” in Gaza, reiterating the necessity of providing humanitarian workers with increased access, safeguarding hospitals and releasing hostages.

A mass grave was found in the hospital’s courtyard on Saturday after the Israeli army withdrew from the city on 7 April following a 4-month ground offensive.

Israel has waged a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border Hamas attack on 7 October last year, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

At least 34,151 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 77,00 others injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85 per cent of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which, in January, issued an interim ruling that ordered it to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

WATCH: 190 bodies found in mass grave at hospital in Gaza’s Khan Yunis