UN calls for international investigators to access Gaza amid recovery of hundreds of bodies

The United Nations called Tuesday for international investigators to be granted to access to all of Gaza to assist with evidencegathering as hundreds of bodies are pulled from the rubbleThe ongoing recovery of extensive human remains in Gaza mostly of women and children nearly three years after Israel heavily bombed their homes highlights the possibility that war crimes have been committed the UN warnedThe remains of what appears to be entire families are now being unearthed at locations that were pulverised by Israeli attacks UN rights chief Volker Turk pointed out in a statementI worry the remains recovered so far may only be the tip of the iceberg he said pointing to how much of Gaza has been flattened by Israeli bombing or demolition and clearing by heavy machinery and explosivesToday many areas in Gaza where the Israeli military is deployed continue to be levelled by bulldozers with no respect for the dead under the rubble he lamentedThe rights office said it was critical that evidence of violations including at destroyed sites calling for international investigators to be allowed into all parts of Gaza to assist with evidencegatheringIt pointed out that the Palestinian Civil Defence had reported that more than 630 bodies and other human remains had been recovered from beneath destroyed buildings across Gaza since last NovemberIt estimates the total number of missing under the rubble at over 8000 it saidTurk insisted that every feasible effort must be taken to document and identify these victims preserve forensic information and biological samples record their burial locations and inform their familiesThe discovery of extensive remains under the rubble in Gaza City resurfaces the concerns of war crimes and other atrocity crimes he warnedIsraels fullscale war on Gaza which began after a Hamas attack inside Israel on October 7 2023 reduced much of the Palestinian territory to rubbleThe relentless Israeli bombardment and ground offensive has killed more than 73000 Palestinians including more than 1350 since a ceasefire agreed last October according to Gazas health ministry which is under Hamas authorityHamass October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1221 people according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figuresThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever