UN human rights chief Volker Turk called for an independent investigation into reports that Palestinian armed groups summarily executed six Israeli hostages, AFP reports.

Israel’s military said the six were all captured alive during Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the conflict, and were shot dead shortly before troops found them.

“We are horrified by reports that Palestinian armed groups summarily executed six Israeli hostages, which would constitute a war crime,” the UN Human Rights Office said on X.

It added that Turk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, “calls for independent, impartial and transparent investigation and for perpetrators to be held to account”.

Hamas’s armed wing said on Monday that hostages would return to Israel “inside coffins” if military pressure continued.