GAZA CITY, Palestine

The Gaza Civil Defense Agency urged UN chief António Guterres to establish an independent international committee to investigate “mass massacres” committed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip. 

''We called on the secretary general of the UN to initiate an independent investigation into the Israeli mass massacres in the Gaza Strip, especially those that occurred at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis,'' spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told Anadolu.

The agency said Thursday that it uncovered 392 bodies in three mass graves at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza.

Basal noted that the agency received more than 500 reports of disappeared people in Khan Younis alone, following an Israeli ground invasion in the area and subsequent withdrawal.

Earlier Friday, the Civil Defense said it concluded search operations and the retrieval of bodies from the mass graves at the Nasser Medical Complex, following a week-long search effort amid limited resources.

The Israeli army withdrew from Khan Younis on April 7 after a four-month ground operation at the Nasser Medical Complex.

Israel has waged a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas, on Oct. 7, which Tel Aviv said killed less than 1,200 people.

More than 34,356 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 77,368 others injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.  

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul