Mass Graves, Grave Crimes

Chapter 5 of the Islamic holy book, the Quran, relays the story of Cain and Abel.

27. Relate to them in truth ˹O Prophet˺ the story of Adam’s two sons—how each offered a sacrifice: one’s offering was accepted while the other’s was not, so he threatened ˹his brother˺, “I will kill you!” His brother replied, “Allah only accepts ˹the offering˺ of the sincerely devout.

28. If you raise your hand to kill me, I will not raise mine to kill you, because I fear Allah—the Lord of all worlds.

29. I want to let you bear your sin against me along with your other sins, then you will be one of those destined to the Fire. And that is the reward of the wrongdoers.”

30. Still, the other convinced himself to kill his own brother, so he killed him—becoming a loser.

31. Then Allah sent a crow digging ˹a grave˺ in the ground ˹for a dead crow˺, in order to show him how to bury the corpse of his brother. He cried, “Alas! Have I ˹even˺ failed to be like this crow and bury the corpse of my brother?” So he became regretful.

For some reason I was reminded of this story after hearing accounts of mass graves found near al-Shifa Hospital and Nasser Hospital in Gaza in April 2024. As with most other hospitals in the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces launched horrendous attacks on these two places. After troops withdrew, Palestinians were able to return to these areas and assess the damage.

On April 25, 2024, Palestinian civil defense officials gave a press conference to share their findings. What they found was horrifying.

In short, hundreds of dead bodies were found either buried in mass graves or above ground. Some bodies were decomposed, and some bodies were severely disfigured after being run over by Israeli tanks. Imagine trying to sleep at night after witnessing these scenes. Imagine the stench of death.

At the time of this press conference, 392 bodies had been uncovered. The victims included women, children, and elderly people. Were they Hamas, too? Some victims were clearly hospital staff members wearing medical scrubs. Some were stripped naked. Some of the victims had their hands tied behind their backs, indicating they were no threat and were simply executed. Some bodies also showed signs of torture, and some had gunshot wounds to the head. There were also signs of organ theft.

Despite how shocking a news story this was, there was little coverage in the Western media aside from CNN. Palestinian officials called for an independent investigation and for forensics specialists to help, as some bodies appeared to have been buried alive. United Nations and European Union officials also called for an independent investigation. US officials did not. Apparently Arab and African lives are cheap. Imagine the shock, outrage, and media coverage if there were mass graves discovered with American, European, or Israeli bodies. There would be condemnations galore, followed by actions against the perpetrators including economic, legal, and possibly military.

Attacking hospitals is a big enough war crime on its own, but leaving mass graves filled with murdered innocents is just sick. Even worse is casually running over bodies with tanks. Israeli forces casually bulldoze and bury Palestinian bodies like they are nothing more than rocks.

Sticking to its usual script, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tried to claim it was all Hamas, despite providing no evidence that any of the dead were Hamas fighters and no evidence that Hamas used any hospital as a command center. For all intents and purposes, these people were killed for the “crime” of being Palestinian.

We already know that despite the crimes committed, Israeli government officials and military personnel will never be held to account. Question is, will the IDF soldiers who committed these atrocities feel guilt the way Cain did after killing his brother?