Col. Yamen Abu Suleiman, Director of Civil Defense in Khan Younis told CNN Monday that “today, 73 bodies were recovered” in the courtyard at the Nasser Medical Complex which brought the “total number to 283.” Discovery came after the withdrawal of Israeli regime's forces from the area earlier this month.
Suleiman stated that some of the bodies had been found with hands and feet tied, “and there were signs of field executions. We do not know if they were buried alive or executed. Most of the bodies are decomposed.”
Previously, a Khan Younis Civil Defense spokesman and head of the search mission, Raed Saqr, told CNN that they are searching for the bodies of another 400 missing people after the Israeli military left on April 7.
A CNN stringer who visited the scene Sunday said people had buried the bodies of family members who had been killed in the grounds of the hospital in January as a temporary measure. When they returned after the Israeli army withdrawal they found the bodies had been exhumed – apparently because the IDF was using DNA testing to determine whether any of the hostages held in Gaza were among the dead.
The bodies were then placed in at least one collective grave, the stringer said.
The area around the Nasser Medical Complex saw intense bombardment and combat in January and February. At the time, CNN reported on the burial of bodies in the hospital grounds because of a lack of safe access to cemeteries.
SD/PR