Many Palestinians have returned to Khan Younis to search for their dead after Israeli forces withdrew from the city. For more than a week now, they’ve unearthed graves where hundreds of bodies were buried. Ali Rogin reports.

Read the Full Transcript

Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

Geoff Bennett: Israel's top military intelligence officer resigned today, blaming himself for missing the signals that Hamas was poised to attack Israel in the run-up to the October 7 attacks.

And just two days after the U.S. House approved a new large military aid package for Israel, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken rejected claims that Washington has a double standard when applying U.S. law to allegations of abuses by the Israeli military in Gaza.
Ali Rogin has our reporting.

Ali Rogin: Another day in Gaza is another day of mourning, a wife grieving over her husband's remains, a daughter left fatherless. Osama's body was found in a mass grave in Khan Yunis, Gaza's second largest city, his family nearly inconsolable.
But, today, they find some measure of that solace in his burial in a freshly dug grave.

Somaya Al-Shourbagy, Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip, Resident (through interpreter): We found Osama's body, but we couldn't find the body of his brother, Mohammed. You saw how the scene is. There are piles of bodies, and some victims can't be found.

Ali Rogin: Like Osama's family, many Palestinians have returned to Khan Yunis to search for their dead after Israeli forces withdrew from the city. And for more than a week now, they have unearthed graves where their loved ones are believed to be buried.

So far, more than 200 bodies have been found in the courtyard of Nasser Hospital. And according to the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service, around 2,000 people are still missing under the rubble. But the pain for Palestinians stretches across the entire Gaza Strip. In Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city, over the weekend families mourned the death of loved ones after two Israeli strikes killed at least 22 people, mostly children.

Saqr Abdel Aal's home was hit, killing his entire family.

Saqr Abdel Aal, Rafah, Gaza Strip, Resident (through interpreter): Did you see one man of all those killed? All of them inside the house and here are women and children.

Ali Rogin: But even in war, a miracle. This doctor at Rafah's Emirati Hospital rushed to save a premature baby girl whose mother was six months pregnant when she was killed in the strike.

Rafah is home to some 1.4 million displaced thousands who fled fighting elsewhere. And despite U.S. calls for restraint, for months, Israel has insisted a major ground offensive in Rafah is needed to destroy Hamas.

Another issue shaking the U.S.-Israel alliance today, a possible U.S. move to punish an Israeli military unit, the Ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda Battalion, accused of human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank. The U.S. can apply penalties under the 1997 Leahy law, which bans foreign military battalions accused of human rights violations from receiving U.S. aid or training.

But, today, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was no timeline yet.
Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State: These efforts are ongoing, and when we feel that we have made the — that we have the facts, we have been to do the analysis, we will make known the findings.

Sarah Elaine Harrison, International Crisis Group: There's important symbolic significance, because the law has never been interpreted to restrict assistance to Israeli security forces.

Ali Rogin: Sarah Elaine Harrison is a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group and an expert in U.S. foreign policy and national security.

Sarah Elaine Harrison: The impact, though, for people who are watching what's happening in Gaza and the — and the violence in the West Bank will be minimal, because these units units can still function and these units still receive U.S. weapons if they're purchased by Israeli funds.

Ali Rogin: Yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized U.S. plans.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister (through interpreter): If anyone thinks they can impose sanctions on a unit of the IDF, I will fight it with all my strength.

Ali Rogin: Meanwhile, turmoil has also reached inside the highest ranks of Israel's military. Today, the country's top military intelligence chief, Major General Aharon Haliva, announced his resignation over the Hamas October 7 attacks in Southern Israel.
On that day, Hamas militants blasted through Israel's border defenses, rampaging through entire communities and killing an estimated 1,200 people, including more than 300 soldiers; 253 Israelis were kidnapped.

In a letter shared by the Israel Defense Forces, Haliva said — quote — "The Intelligence Directorate under my command did not fulfill its task. I have carried that black day with me ever since, every day, every night. I will forever bear the terrible pain of the war."
But even in the shadow of war, in Tel Aviv today, hostage families gathered to mark the beginning of Passover, the Festival of Freedom, as they pray for the freedom of the 133 captives remaining in Gaza.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Ali Rogin.