Footage of a French aid worker describing a mass grave holding 300 bodies in Gaza, including small children allegedly killed with their hands tied, has gone viral, reigniting international calls for accountability amid documented evidence of similar conditions at multiple Gaza hospital sites.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, a Geneva-based human rights organisation, has been systematically documenting mass graves across Gaza since October 2023, recording more than 130 sites in the territory's northern, central and southern governorates. The most significant discoveries came in April 2024 at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where Palestinian Civil Defence teams unearthed hundreds of bodies, some of them children, bearing marks consistent with execution. The United Nations human rights chief called the finds 'horrifying' and demanded that international investigators be granted unimpeded access to the sites.
What Civil Defence Recovered
Palestinian families began returning to the Nasser Hospital compound in Khan Younis on 20 April 2024, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces after a months-long military operation. What Civil Defence teams found stunned international observers. Bodies had been buried deep in the ground, covered with waste, and the grave sites sat within hospital grounds that had been converted into a military zone.
By the end of a seven-day search operation, Gaza's Civil Defence had recovered more than 390 bodies from three mass grave sites at the compound. Dr. Muhammad Al-Mughair, head of evidence at Civil Defence, told NBC News that 78 children were among the dead. Of the 165 bodies identified at that stage, approximately 10 were found with their hands bound.
At a press conference at the hospital attended by an NBC News crew, Al-Mughair said bodies found with bound hands and gunshot wounds to the head indicated 'field executions.' Yamen Abu Suleiman told CNN, 'We do not know if they were buried alive or executed. Most of the bodies are decomposed.'
Separate grave sites were also identified at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Authorities reported at least 30 bodies there, some also found with hands tied, buried in front of the emergency building and the dialysis centre. Palestinian agencies reported that individuals of various ages were among the dead, including older people, wounded patients still in hospital gowns with needles in their skin, and children.
Calls for International Investigators
On 23 April 2024, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk released a formal statement from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) saying he was 'horrified' by the destruction of Nasser and Al-Shifa hospitals and the mass grave reports. 'Hospitals are entitled to very special protection under international humanitarian law,' Turk said. 'The intentional killing of civilians, detainees, and others who are hors de combat is a war crime.'
Turk demanded 'independent, effective and transparent' investigations and specified that 'given the prevailing climate of impunity, this should include international investigators.' OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani separately confirmed to UN News that 'among the deceased were allegedly older people, women and wounded, while others were found tied with their hands... tied and stripped of their clothes.' UN Secretary-General spokesman Stephane Dujarric described the reports as 'extremely troubling' and called for a 'credible and independent' probe.
The UN Security Council followed on 10 May 2024 with a formal press statement, expressing 'deep concern over reports of the discovery of mass graves, in and around the Nasser and Al Shifa medical facilities in Gaza, where several hundred bodies, including women, children and older persons, were buried.' The Council called for investigators to be given unimpeded access to all grave locations to conduct 'immediate, independent, thorough, comprehensive, transparent and impartial investigations.'
The EU similarly called for an independent probe. A spokesperson for the European Union's foreign policy arm, Peter Stano, said the discoveries 'create the impression that there might have been violations of international human rights committed.'
French Aid Worker Account and Euro-Med Monitor's Documentation
A clip of an unnamed French aid worker has circulated widely on social media, most recently shared by the account @mohmmed_allaw on X. In the clip, the worker states, 'We found a mass grave in Gaza containing 300 bodies. Small children were killed with their hands tied behind their backs.'
IBTimes has been unable to independently verify the aid worker's identity, their organisation, or the precise incident being described. The account is consistent with documented discoveries at Nasser Hospital in April 2024, where the UN and Civil Defence confirmed the presence of children's remains and bodies with bound hands.
🔴 سيدة فرنسية:
— ابو القاسم علاو (@mohmmed_allaw) May 21, 2026
وجدنا مقبرة جماعية في غزة تحتوي على 300 شخص.
أطفال صغار قُتلوا وأيديهم مُقيدة خلف ظهورهم، ثم هناك من يخرجون ويقولون إن الجنود الإسرائيليين هم أكثر الجنود أخلاقاً في العالم!؟ pic.twitter.com/hLr41TWOnU
Euro-Med Monitor, which shared the clip through its chairman Ramy Abdu's X account, has maintained field teams across Gaza since October 2023. The organisation documents that more than 130 mass graves have been identified since the start of the conflict, encompassing both formal mass burial sites and informal graves created within homes and private spaces. Euro-Med provided documentation to the South African legal team in proceedings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), including evidence relating to mass graves and damage to the healthcare system.
The organisation is not without controversy. Israel's government has alleged Hamas ties to Euro-Med through its chairman, and Israeli authorities dispute the framing of the group's reports. NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based watchdog, has documented Euro-Med chairman Ramy Abdu expressing support for Hamas leadership following military strikes. Euro-Med rejects allegations of bias and says its documentation is evidence-based.
Two years on from the first documented discoveries, the mass graves of Gaza remain uninvestigated, the children buried there unaccounted for, and the international community's demands for transparency unanswered.
