Germany urges probe into mass grave reports at Gaza hospitals

BERLIN

Germany on Wednesday called for an investigation into media reports about the discovery of mass graves at two Gaza hospitals.

“We know the media reports and they are shocking. In this respect, this needs to be fully clarified,” Christian Wagner, a deputy Foreign Ministry spokesman said at a press briefing in Berlin.

On Tuesday, UN rights chief Volker Turk said he was "horrified" by the destruction of the Nasser and Al-Shifa medical facilities in Gaza and reports of mass graves containing hundreds of bodies there, according to a spokesperson.

Palestinian authorities reported finding hundreds of bodies in mass graves at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis this week after it was abandoned by Israeli troops. Bodies were also reported at the Al-Shifa site following an Israeli special forces operation.

In other related news, the secretary-general of Amnesty International in Germany, Julia Duchrow, strongly criticized the German government for being silent on Israeli war crimes, saying Berlin was also contributing to the erosion of the international order.

“It remains silent about the war crimes committed by the Israeli army and thereby loses her credibility. Double standards are not compatible with the human rights-based foreign policy that (Foreign Minister) Annalena Baerbock has announced.”

The Israeli military operation in Gaza is accompanied by numerous war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law, she added.

The federal government is refusing to “name the Israeli army’s war crimes,” Duchrow said.

Amnesty is calling on all states and the federal government not to supply weapons to Israel or other parties involved in the conflict “who are at risk of committing war crimes or human rights violations,” she added.