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PA urges probe into field executions as mass grave found

PA urges probe into Gaza field executions as UN chief slams Israel for blocking aid
MENA
25 min read
31 January, 2024
Palestinian officials call for an international investigation, as thirty bodies were discovered in body bags were discovered in northern Gaza school

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The dead bodies of some 30 Palestinians have been found in a school in north Gaza after the Israeli military’s withdrawal, following weeks of heavy fighting which has laid waste to the area and cut off civilians from communication and aid.

The bodies were discovered in the Khalifa bin Zayed school in Beit Lahia in north Gaza – an area which had been besieged for weeks.

Additionally, Hamas said on Tuesday it had received and was studying a new proposal for a ceasefire and release of hostages in Gaza, presented by mediators after talks with Israel, in what appeared to be the most serious peace initiative for months.

A senior Hamas official told news agency Reuters the proposal involved a three-stage truce, during which the group would first release remaining civilians among hostages it captured on October  7, then soldiers, and finally the bodies of hostages that were killed.

Hamas leader Haniyeh said he was studying the ceasefire proposal. The priority for Hamas was to end the Israeli offensive and secure a full troop withdrawal, he said.

The diplomatic advances were announced hours after Israeli commandos, disguised as medical workers and Muslim women, stormed into a hospital in the West Bank in an undercover raid. The raid, in which three Palestinians were killed, drew accusations of war crimes.

Palestinian officials said the three were not engaged in fighting, and called the raid a violation of humanitarian law which protects hospitals.

"We, at the hospital, are still in shock. Although the hospital has been targeted by occupation forces before, by firing tear gas or blocking the entrance, never before did [the Israelis] assassinate someone inside one of the hospital's rooms", a Ibn Sina hospital spokesperson told The New Arab.