UPDATE – 30 Palestinians held by Israel found dead, handcuffed inside Gaza school: NGO

UPDATES WITH PALESTINIAN REACTIONS

By Qais Abu Samra

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – A Palestinian nongovernmental organization has accused the Israeli army of executing 30 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“Thirty handcuffed and blindfolded bodies were found inside a school in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza,” the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a statement on Wednesday.

It said the dead Palestinians were detained by Israeli forces before their death.

“It’s clear that the occupation forces had carried out a field execution against these people,” the NGO added.

The group said Israeli authorities refuse to provide information about the fate of Palestinians held by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called for an international investigation into Israel's “massacres" as well as the fate of Palestinians held by Israel in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian group Hamas also called for documenting the Israeli execution of 30 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

"The ongoing Israeli crimes against our people are exposed day by day,” Hamas said in a statement.

“(The crime) shows that the occupation army had carried out a massacre against civilians by executing them on the ground after abusing them,” it added.

Hamas called on human rights organizations “to document this horrific crime to prosecute this criminal army and its Nazi leaders who continue to kill and exterminate our Palestinian people.”

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on the accusation.

Israel has launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack, killing at least 26,900 Palestinians and injuring 65,949. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar