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UN rights chief ‘horrified’ by mass grave reports at Gaza hospitals
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
U.N. rights chief Volker Turk said on Tuesday that he was “horrified” by the destruction of the Nasser and Al Shifa medical facilities in Gaza and reports of mass graves containing hundreds of bodies there, according to a spokesperson.
Palestinian authorities reported finding scores of bodies in mass graves at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis this week after it was abandoned by Israeli troops. Bodies were also reported at the Al Shifa site following an Israeli special forces operation.
“We feel the need to raise the alarm because clearly there have been multiple bodies discovered,” said Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, adding Turk said he had been horrified by the reported mass grave discoveries and the hospitals’ destruction.
“Some of them had their hands tied, which of course indicates serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and these need to be subjected to further investigations.”
She added that the U.N. human rights office was working on corroborating Palestinian officials’ reports that 283 bodies were found at Nasser and 30 at Al Shifa.
According to those reports, some of the bodies were buried beneath piles of waste and included women and older people.
Gaza’s Hamas-run Civil Emergency Service said on Tuesday that a total of 310 bodies had been found at one mass grave at Nasser so far and that two other graves had been identified, but not yet excavated.
Israel’s military and its diplomatic mission in Geneva were not immediately available for comment on the Jewish Passover holiday. Israel says Hamas militants use hospitals as bases and that its forces killed around 200 militants at Al Shifa and avoided harming any civilians.
Turk, who was represented by Shamdasani at a U.N. press briefing, also decried Israeli strikes on Gaza in recent days, which he said had killed mostly women and children.
He also repeated a warning against a full-scale incursion on Rafah where some 1.2 million civilians are crowded together, saying this could lead to “further atrocity crimes”.
Violence has also surged in the occupied West Bank since Israel’s war on Hamas began on Oct. 7, sparked by the latter’s cross-border attacks on Israel which killed 1,200 people according to Israeli tallies.
Palestinian health authorities said 14 Palestinians had been killed on Saturday in the Nur Shams area in one of the heaviest tolls in the West Bank in months.
Shamdasani said the U.N. human rights office had received reports that some the victims in Nur Shams had been killed in apparent extrajudicial executions. Israel’s military has previously said a number of militants were killed or arrested in the West Bank raid and at least four soldiers wounded.
On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would delay ruling on President Trump’s controversial claim that the Constitution does not guarantee birthright citizenship. The justices will hear arguments in the case on May 15, with a final decision expected by late June or early July.
The Court made no mention of addressing other concerns raised by the Trump administration, particularly its frustration with single district court judges issuing nationwide rulings in such cases.
Since Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office to end birthright citizenship, every court that has reviewed it has blocked the order. Despite repeated legal defeats, Trump has remained adamant that the constitutional guarantee of citizenship to all born on U.S. soil is invalid—an idea long dismissed by mainstream legal scholars. The Supreme Court affirmed birthright citizenship 127 years ago, and that ruling still stands.
A coalition of states has challenged Trump’s order, arguing there’s no legal ambiguity about the 14th Amendment. In their brief to the Court, they wrote: “For over a century, it has been the settled view of this court, Congress, the Executive Branch, and legal scholars that the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees citizenship to babies born in the United States, regardless of their parents’ status.”
The amendment itself reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” Trump, however, insists this does not apply universally.
Federal judges in three states have blocked Trump’s executive order, and appeals courts have upheld those decisions. Notably, Judge John Coughenour—appointed by President Reagan—was the first to rule the order “blatantly unconstitutional.”
Even Trump’s legal team seemed to recognize the legal challenges. Rather than pushing for a total reversal of lower court decisions, they asked the Supreme Court to narrow the rulings, hoping to at least begin implementing parts of the new policy.
The Ondo State Police Command has said that the convoy of the President’s wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, was not involved in an auto crash that led to the death of a seven-year-old girl in Akure, the state capital on Thursday, April 17, 2025.
The spokesperson for the Command, Olusola Ayanlade, in a statement, said the president’s wife was on a visit to the state on Thursday to distribute empowerment kits and equipment.
“Eyewitness accounts and preliminary investigations conducted by the Ondo State Police Command have confirmed that the incident was caused by a hit-and-run driver operating an unregistered white Lexus vehicle — not by any vehicle belonging to or associated with the First Lady’s convoy,” the police said.
The statement further said, “A witness who observed the hit-and-run pursued the fleeing vehicle on a motorcycle immediately after the incident, which occurred around the Oba Ile area of Akure. These accounts have been corroborated by several individuals at the scene as well as by the parents of the deceased.
“The Commissioner of Police, Ondo State Command, was personally present and met with the grieving family to ensure a full and transparent investigation. At no point was the First Lady’s convoy involved in this tragedy.
“The command commiserated with the bereaved family and urged the general public to cooperate with us as we bring the perpetrator of the hit-and-run to justice.
Former DELSU VC, Sowore, Deji, other activists hit hard at Agbor Nursing School provost as query to student nurse goes abuzz on social media
“Also, we urge anyone with any useful information to please come forward or report to the nearest police station or security post nearest to them while we hunt for the killer
Credit: Channels Television
Several persons have lost their lives in another terrible accident that occurred on Karu Bridge, inward Karu Site, Abuja on Friday.
According to Daily Post report, the accident was caused by a truck laden with cement which failed its brakes while descending the Kugbo hill.
It was gathered that the truck, after crushing about several vehicles and their occupants, attempted to escape but was intercepted around Karu Roundabout by commercial motorcyclists.
The accident came barely a month after a similar fatal accident occurred on the same Karu Bridge in March, when a Dangote trailer powered by CNG lost its brakes, crashed into several vehicles and claimed multiple lives.
More details to follow
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