CAIRO: Palestinian authorities asked the UN to look into mass graves at Gaza hospitals on Thursday, as Israel increased bombings on Rafah and prepared to launch an all-out land assault despite warnings from allies that this might result in mass casualties.
At least three houses were struck by five Israeli bombs on Rafah early on Thursday, killing at least six people—including a local journalist—according to medics in the embattled Palestinian enclave.
Israeli soldiers have started bombing the northern, central, and eastern parts of the Gaza Strip, as well as the southern area east of Khan Yunis, in the seventh month of their deadly air and military assault against Hamas.
Wednesday saw Israeli airplanes bombard the north for a second day, upending weeks of comparatively quiet conditions there.
Palestinian officials want a UN investigation into mass graves at Gaza hospitals
According to Gaza health authorities on Thursday, at least 34,305 Palestinians have died in the war, which is currently in its seventh month.
Israeli forces were still pounding Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, Jabalia, and Zeitoun in the north. According to some locals, Hamas and Islamic Jihad were using anti-tank rockets, mortar bombs, and sniper fire to combat Israeli ground forces.
A Palestinian civil defense team, meanwhile, demanded on Thursday that the UN look into what it claimed to be war crimes at a hospital in Gaza, claiming that 400 bodies had been found in mass graves following the evacuation of Israeli soldiers from the area.
The civil defense troops stated at a press conference that “there are cases of field execution of some patients at the Nasser Medical Complex while undergoing surgeries and wearing surgical gowns.”
