The Palestinian Authority announced that 180 bodies have been recovered from the Nasser medical complex as Israel continues its deadly assault on Gaza.
As Israel continues to shell the devastated coastal enclave for more than six months, Palestinian civil defense forces have discovered a mass grave inside the Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis, Gaza, with 180 bodies recovered so far. Al Jazeera reported.
Saturday's discoveries continued into Sunday and came after the Israeli military withdrew its troops from the southern city on April 7. After months of relentless Israeli shelling and heavy fighting, much of Khan Yunis is now in ruins.
“In the hospital courtyard, civil defense personnel and paramedics recovered 180 bodies buried in this mass grave by the Israeli army. The bodies include elderly women, children and young men,” Kerr said. Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud from Al-N Younis said on Sunday.
“Given that there is still a significant number of martyrs, our teams will continue search and rescue operations for the remaining martyrs in the coming days,” the Palestinian Emergency Services said in a statement late Saturday.
Earlier this week, a mass grave was discovered at Al Shifa Hospital after a two-week siege. It was one of several mass graves found in al-Shifa, the coastal enclave's largest medical facility.
Israel's war on Gaza has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, left Gaza's two largest cities in ruins and left a trail of destruction across the territory, local health officials said.
At least two-thirds of the victims are children and women. It also said the actual death toll was likely much higher, as many bodies were buried under debris left behind by airstrikes or in areas beyond the reach of medical workers.
Israel launched its war on Gaza after fighters from Hamas and other Palestinian groups attacked Israeli territory on October 7, killing some 1,139 people and capturing more than 200.
18 children killed in Rafah, Israel
Meanwhile, Israeli military offensives continue in Gaza's coastal enclaves, including the southern city of Rafah, with overnight attacks killing 22 people, including 18 children, health officials said Sunday.
The first airstrike early Sunday killed a man, his wife and their 3-year-old child, according to a nearby Kuwait hospital that accepted the bodies. According to the hospital, the woman was pregnant and doctors were able to safely rescue the baby.
Israel bombs Rafah almost daily, and more than half of Gaza's 2.3 million people have fled fighting elsewhere.
The second attack killed 17 children and two women from the same family, according to hospital records. The previous night's airstrike on Rafah killed nine people, including six children.
Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud reporting from Rafah said the threat of a ground invasion into Rafah was “increasing”.
“They are being targeted directly inside the homes where whole families are evacuating,” he said.
“The sense of safety and security of people who are already traumatized by fleeing from one place to another is shattered.”
Israel has also vowed to expand ground attacks on cities on its border with Egypt, despite international calls for restraint, including from the United States.
However, the United States continues to provide arms packages to Israel while seeking an end to hostilities in the six-month war. On Saturday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a $95 billion bill to provide security assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan with broad bipartisan support.