Israel turned Gaza’s hospitals into execution fields and the international community only called for humanitarian pauses. Now that mass graves have been discovered, the international community is allegedly horrified and is calling “for a transparent and credible investigation”. Where did the UN think the bodies of Palestinians murdered by Israel would end up? And why is the UN horrified at the discovery of mass graves, but not at Israel killing thousands of Palestinian civilians?

The mass graves discovery “is another reason why we need a ceasefire, why we need to see an end to this conflict, why we need to see greater access for humanitarians, for humanitarian goods, greater protection for hospitals. We need to see the hostages released,” the UN Secretary-General’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, stated during a press briefing.

There is much dissonance in this statement. The ceasefire was needed before the discovery of the mass graves. During genocide, the UN speaking of conflict illustrates its complicity with Israel. Linking humanitarian aid to the mass graves is another atrocious comment – humanitarian aid is for the living. Protection for hospitals is a necessity and not linked to the discovery of mass graves. And the Israeli hostages’ release has nothing to do with the discovery of the mass graves. The mass graves exist because Israel is committing genocide. And all that Dujarric listed must be linked to Israel’s genocide and the UN’s complicity in allowing it to happen.

However, given that the UN has now normalised genocide as well, it needs sensationalism to make its points while abstaining from any action that could halt Israel’s elimination of Palestinians from Gaza. And what better way to do it than focus on 392 Palestinians out of the thousands that have been killed, because their bodies have been discovered in a mass grave?

UN Security Council demands immediate ceasefire in Gaza- Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]

Mass graves point towards evidence of war crimes and, in this case, genocide. However, the mass graves in Gaza are also evidence of international inaction over genocide. They are a continuation of the 1948 Nakba, which the international community has failed to refer to in its rhetoric. Playing shocked at the discovery of mass graves will not help Palestinians, but acknowledging the Nakba when it happened would have possibly prevented the current existence of mass graves, which Israel will contextualise in its perpetual security narrative. And which country is ready to tear down Israel’s lies and face the genocidal settler-colonial entity with facts?

A mass grave is not just symbolic of violence. It is evidence, in Gaza’s case, not only of Israel’s annihilation of Palestinians but also of the international community’s fragmenting of genocide into separate violations to minimise accountability. However, even with the discovery of the mass grave, diplomats are still granting Israel further impunity.

“This is something that forces us to call for an independent investigation of all the suspicions and all the circumstances because it indeed creates the impression that there might have been violations of international human rights committed,” the EU’s spokesman, Peter Stano, declared.

‘Might have been’? There was evidence even without the discovery of mass graves, but the international community prefers to rest on speculation in the face of evidence. With one phrase, proof has been turned into an assumption. Can the international community, at least, stop sensationalising the horror of mass graves and focus on the entire genocidal process which wants to eliminate all traces of Palestinians? No independent investigation will cancel the fact that genocide unfolded with the international community’s blessing and, as a result, so did the mass graves.