The White House has said it seeks "answers" from Israel after the discovery of mass graves at Gaza hospitals destroyed in Israeli sieges.
More than 300 bodies of people - allegedly killed and buried by Israeli forces at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis - have so far been recovered. Other graves at al-Shifa Hospital in northern were also located.
"We want answers. We want to see this thoroughly and transparently investigated," National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.
Hospitals, which have protection under international law, have repeatedly come under Israeli bombardment during more than six months of war in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes pounded the northern Gaza strip for a second day on Wednesday in a fierce assault that has shattered weeks of comparative calm, and Israel said it was moving forward with plans for an all-out assault on Rafah in the south.
After an abrupt Israeli pullback at the start of this month, Palestinians at both ends of the Gaza Strip were again fleeing for their lives from the bombing they described as some of the war's worst.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government said Israel was "moving ahead" with its plans for a ground operation on Rafah but gave no timeline.
Western countries, including Israel's closest ally, the United States, have pleaded with it to hold back from attacking the city on Gaza's southern edge, which is sheltering more than half the enclave's 2.3 million people.
(Reuters)
