Mass grave unearthed at Gaza hospital occupied by Israeli forces: Report

Palestinian civil authorities have found a mass grave inside a hospital complex in Gaza’s Khan Younis, with 180 bodies recovered so far, Al Jazeera reported on Monday.

The authorities found the mass grave on Saturday in the Nasser Medical Hospital complex after the Israeli military withdrew its troops from the southern city on April 7. The count of the bodies was going on Sunday. The bodies include elderly women, children and young men.

According to a report by news agency AFP, the mass grave was found in the courtyard of the hospital.

"We... are waiting for all graves to be exhumed in order to give a final number of martyrs," Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defence agency, told AFP.

"There were no clothes on some bodies, which certainly indicates (the victims) faced torture and abuse," Bassal said.

Earlier this week, a similar mass grave was discovered at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. It was one of several mass graves found at Al-Shifa--the largest medical facility in the war-torn coastal enclave.

According to the health ministry of Hamas-controlled Gaza, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli retaliation that started after the October 7 attack.

At least two-thirds of the casualties are children and women.

Israel launched its war on Gaza after Hamas carried out an attack inside Israel on October 7, killing about 1,139 people and taking more than 200 people captive.

Meanwhile, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in a video message, on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Passover, said that the country "will deliver additional and painful blows" to Hamas.

"In the coming days we will increase the military and political pressure on Hamas because this is the only way to free our hostages," he said.

Israel estimates 129 captives remain in Gaza after the October 7 Hamas attack, that killed over 1,200 people.