The Body In The Mass Grave Of Nasser Hospital Increases To 344, Head Of Civil Defense: Most Of Them Are Slaughtered

JAKARTA - The number of bodies found in mass graves around the hospital complex in Gaza, Palestine has increased again, as the United Nations calls for an independent international investigation.

The excavation carried out by Palestinian authorities again found about 20 additional bodies at a mass cemetery found at the Nasser Hospital Complex, Civil Defense Director Khan Younis, southern Gaza told CNN on Wednesday.

The 20 bodies found are an addition of 324 bodies that have been found by the Palestinian Civil Defense, as previously reported. The total number of bodies that have been found to date has reached around 344 bodies.

"We are sorting and compiling the bodies because most of the bodies are in dismembered," said Yamen Colonel Abu Suleiman, who oversees the excavation.

The mass burial was found in a hospital in Khan Younis City, southern Gaza, by Civil Defense workers after Israeli forces withdrew from the area on April 7.

In response to CNN's question about mass graves at Nasser Medical Complex, the Israeli military said it "reported that the IDF (Isrfael Defense Forces) buried the Palestinian bodies baseless and baseless."

Separately, the United Nations (UN) in a statement on Tuesday called for "independent, effective and transparent investigations" against the discovery of mass graves in two Gaza hospitals after being surrounded and invaded by Israeli forces earlier this year.

Before Nasser Hospital, health workers dug up bodies from mass graves at Al-Shifa Hospital, after they said Israeli forces killed hundreds of Palestinians and let their bodies rot for two weeks of a complex siege in northern Gaza.

At least 381 bodies were found in Al-Shifa after Israeli forces withdrew troops on April 1, according to Gaza's Civil Defense.