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Unearthing the Story Behind the Gazan Mass Graves

Over the past week, Palestinian teams have been unearthing mass graves outside two Gaza medical complexes, Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis and Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces who…

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Over the past week, Palestinian teams have been unearthing mass graves outside two Gaza medical complexes, Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis and Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces who were conducting counter-terrorism operations in the area.

With the opening of these mass graves, social media and some traditional news outlets have been abuzz with claims that these graves are evidence of mass killings of Palestinians by Israelis and that some of those found inside the graves show signs of being tortured and killed execution-style with their hands tied behind their backs.

However, much like other sensationalist news stories about Israel’s conduct during its ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza, the story of the mass graves being propounded online and by some media outlets is a mixture of deception, falsehoods, and a reliance on biased sources.

What Is the Story Behind the Mass Graves?

Much of the news regarding the mass graves has surrounded the exhumation of hundreds of bodies on the grounds of Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis.

However, unlike that which is being claimed, these mass graves were not dug by Israeli forces during their months-long siege and battle against Hamas terrorists operating within the medical complex.

Rather, these graves were dug by Palestinians prior to the arrival of the Israeli military in mid-February 2024.

Analysts have observed that these mass graves which are now being unearthed were documented as first being dug and used in late January and early February 2024 to bury people who had died in the hospital and could not be transported to a formal cemetery for internment.

As the battle between Israel and Hamas intensified around the medical complex, it is possible that newer bodies (of those who had been killed during the firefight or who had died at the hospital during the battle) were added to these mass graves. However, as noted by the Times of Israel, it is uncharacteristic for the IDF to “tend to the bodies of slain Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”

Thus, if newer bodies were added to these mass graves over the course of the IDF’s operations in the area, it is likely that they were buried by Palestinians and not by Israelis.

Alongside the false claims that Israel had dug these mass graves, representatives of Hamas in Gaza and the Hamas-affiliated Civil Defense have claimed that Israel dug up graves in the Nasser hospital complex and then re-buried the deceased in these mass graves.

However, according to the IDF, while Israeli forces did exhume certain graves in order to determine whether dead Israeli hostages had been buried by Hamas in these graves, they did not desecrate the graves nor remove identifying markers.

After it had been determined that no hostages were buried on the grounds, the exhumed bodies were re-interred in their burial locations “in an orderly and proper manner.”

A third claim that has been put forth about these mass graves is that some of the exhumed bodies have had their hands tied, allegedly proof for Israeli extrajudicial executions of Palestinians in the area.

However, there are several factors that call into question these allegations: No evidence has been provided for these claims, with only unverified reports alleging the existence of these bodies with their hands tied. These claims are not being put forward by impartial observers but by Hamas and its Gaza-based affiliates. If these bodies do exist, there is no evidence that Israel is responsible for their being bound.

Despite the lack of concrete evidence for the existence of these handcuffed corpses, even by a UN representative’s own admission, this has not stopped the UN from portraying their existence as solid fact, even headlining one of its releases “Mass graves in Gaza show victims’ hands were tied, says UN rights office.”

This unabashed reliance on Hamas reports has helped give these stories an air of legitimacy despite their being propounded by an internationally-recognized terror organization.

How Has the Media Covered the Mass Graves?

As the story of the mass graves continues to develop, media organizations have covered this story with varying levels of nuance and accuracy.

Predictably, Al Jazeera’s coverage was most in line with Hamas’s propaganda, uncritically parroting statements by the Civil Defense in Gaza as well as international leaders responding to the reports released by Hamas.

Only one paragraph is granted to the IDF’s denial that it had dug mass graves, and at no point is it stated as fact that these mass graves had been dug prior to the Israeli operation at Nasser Hospital.

In their reports, both Reuters and CNN provided fairly nuanced coverage, giving ample space to the IDF’s statements refuting the allegations against it and admitting that some of the charges put forward by the Palestinians could not be substantiated.

However, in its coverage of the mass graves, the Associated Press provided a far less objective report, only including the IDF’s rebuttal seven paragraphs in, ignoring the fact that the reports on the mass graves were being released by a Hamas-affiliated body, and using the term “could not be independently verified” for Israel’s allegations but not those put forward by the Civil Defense or international bodies.

Thus, despite the unsubstantiated and biased information being released by the Civil Defense, AP treated it as fact while calling into question Israel’s response to these baseless allegations.

In its report on the mass graves, The Times presented the allegations of bodies with bound hands as established fact by quoting UN officials, despite the fact that these officials were basing themselves on Hamas reports and there was no physical evidence to corroborate these claims.

While the mainstream media coverage of the mass graves has featured various levels of nuance and objectivity, social media has served as a source for the most extreme takes on this subject, with many uncritically parroting Hamas’ claims and using them as a cudgel with which to harm Israel’s reputation and the IDF’s integrity.

 

Featured image: Anas Zeyad Fteha/Anadolu via Getty Images

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Chaim Lax
Chaim Lax
Originally from Toronto, Canada, Chaim moved to Israel in 2018. He has a B.A. (Hons) in Political Science and History from York University as well as an MA in Israel Studies from the Rothberg International School at Hebrew University. Prior to joining HonestReporting, Chaim worked with a variety of Israel advocacy organizations in both Canada and Israel.
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