Gaza Strip - April 23, 2024

The identification work of bodies uncovered at a hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis is underway, which was occupied by Israeli forces until earlier this month.

A Palestinian civil defense team said on Thursday that 392 bodies were recovered from mass graves found around Nasser Hospital after Israeli forces departed the complex.

A spokesman for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Tuesday that the incident was alarming and called for an investigation.

On the same day, Sameh Hamad, a local criminal evidence administrator, said that staff took photos of these dead bodies in order to help relatives, friends and staff identify the deceased through clothing and other items.

"Our job is to document the crimes of the occupation, so we take photos of the bodies that we got out of the graves that were made during the occupation. We take photos of the clothes and everything that was on the bodies, so relatives could recognize them. Sometimes the landmark may be on the body itself, so it helps us a lot. This place contained three graveyards. The first place is in front of the mortuary of the hospital, the second is behind the mortuary, and the third place is in the north of 'Ind-Aldighma' behind me," said Hamad.

Hamad also said that the number of the corpses that they got out was more than 200 as of April 22. They have signs of more than 500 missing people in this place, and it may rise to 700.

SHOTLIST:
Gaza Strip - April 23, 2024
1. Dirt mound outside hospital;
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Sameh Hamad, local criminal evidence administrator (ending with shots 3-8):
"Our job is to document the crimes of the occupation, so we take photos of the bodies that we got out of the graves that were made during the occupation. We take photos of the clothes and everything that was on the bodies, so relatives could recognize them. Sometimes the landmark may be on the body itself, so it helps us a lot. This place contained three graveyards. The first place is in front of the mortuary of the hospital, the second is behind the mortuary, and the third place is in the north of 'Ind-Aldighma' behind me.";
3. Various of excavator, staff uncovering bodies;
4. Various of staff identifying, carrying, marking bodies;
5. Flowers on body bag;
6. Various of people at digging site;
7. Dirt mound outside hospital;
8. Various of excavator, staff working.

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