Euro-Med Monitor Documents Children and Infants With Bound Hands in Gaza Mass Graves as UN Demands Investigation

Via International Business Times

WORLD

International pressure mounts for independent investigations into mass graves found at Gaza hospitals.

By Chelsie Napiza
Published 24 May 2026, 2:03 PM BST

Footage of a French aid worker describing a mass grave holding 300 bodies in Gaza, including small children allegedly killed with their hands tied, has gone viral, reigniting international calls for accountability amid documented evidence of similar conditions at multiple Gaza hospital sites.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, a Geneva-based human rights organisation, has been systematically documenting mass graves across Gaza since October 2023, recording more than 130 sites in the territory's northern, central and southern governorates. The most significant discoveries came in April 2024 at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where Palestinian Civil Defence teams unearthed hundreds of bodies, some of them children, bearing marks consistent with execution. The United Nations human rights chief called the finds 'horrifying' and demanded that international investigators be granted unimpeded access to the sites.

What Civil Defence Recovered

Palestinian families began returning to the Nasser Hospital compound in Khan Younis on 20 April 2024, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces after a months-long military operation. What Civil Defence teams found stunned international observers. Bodies had been buried deep in the ground, covered with waste, and the grave sites sat within hospital grounds that had been converted into a military zone.

By the end of a seven-day search operation, Gaza's Civil Defence had recovered more than 390 bodies from three mass grave sites at the compound. Dr. Muhammad Al-Mughair, head of evidence at Civil Defence, told NBC News that 78 children were among the dead. Of the 165 bodies identified at that stage, approximately 10 were found with their hands bound.

What Civil Defence Recovered

Palestinian families began returning to the Nasser Hospital compound in Khan Younis on 20 April 2024, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces after a months-long military operation. What Civil Defence teams found stunned international observers. Bodies had been buried deep in the ground, covered with waste, and the grave sites sat within hospital grounds that had been converted into a military zone.

By the end of a seven-day search operation, Gaza's Civil Defence had recovered more than 390 bodies from three mass grave sites at the compound. Dr. Muhammad Al-Mughair, head of evidence at Civil Defence, told NBC News that 78 children were among the dead. Of the 165 bodies identified at that stage, approximately 10 were found with their hands bound.

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A reporter captures devastation in Gaza, embodying the perils media workers face amid rising violations. (PHOTO: RAJATONVIMMA/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)

Expansion of areas under Israeli control in Gaza endangers civilians and relief efforts

Statement by the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory*

East Jerusalem, 1 July 2026

The United Nations and NGOs warn that the continued expansion of areas under Israeli control in Gaza since the ceasefire agreement in October 2025 is intensifying risks to civilians and further constraining humanitarian efforts.

Since this ceasefire agreement, Israeli forces have used lethal force to enforce access restrictions in those areas, where strikes and exchanges of fire have also occurred. Between 10 October 2025 and early April 2026, the UN verified the killing of 196 Palestinians, including 18 women and 43 children, in Israeli attacks reported near areas where Israeli forces are deployed. Many were reportedly killed while moving through areas lacking clear demarcation on the ground. Many others have been injured.

Humanitarian access remains severely constrained due to restrictions on movement which results in delays or pauses in life-saving activities. Some partners have had to scale down or temporarily suspend life-saving activities, particularly following the killing of service providers in those areas. This has affected up to thousands of families in the vicinity.

At the same time, the expanding control measures are reducing the space available to civilians. Most Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced multiple times and are now concentrated in increasingly limited areas, living amid insecurity and violence. Access to essential services is already strained by the insufficient entry of critical goods into Gaza. This situation is further compounded by the continued expansion and shifting of deployment lines.

The United Nations and humanitarian NGOs call for:

  • An immediate end to the targeting of Palestinians for being in areas close to Israeli forces;

  • The protection of civilians at all times and full compliance with international humanitarian and human rights law;

  • Safe and unimpeded humanitarian access into and across all parts of the Gaza Strip.


END

* The Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) is a strategic decision-making forum led by the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It brings together heads of UN entities and NGOs – both international and Palestinian – all working on humanitarian affairs in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip under internationally agreed humanitarian principles.


For media inquiries, please contact Ilona Gaudin, at +972 54 33 11 835 or gaudin2@un.org