Israeli troops leave Gaza Hospital destroyed after two-week operation

Jerusalem/Cairo (Reuters) – Israeli forces withdrew from Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City after a two-week operation, the Israeli military said on Monday (1), leaving behind a site of destroyed facilities and Palestinian bodies scattered in the dirt of the compound.

Hundreds of residents rushed to the area around the Gaza Strip’s largest hospital to check the damage caused to surrounding residential districts following fighting between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, which administers Gaza.

The Israeli military said it killed and detained hundreds of armed men in clashes around the hospital, and seized weapons and intelligence documents. Hamas and medical staff continue to deny that Palestinian fighters have any armed presence in hospitals.

A spokesman for the Gaza Civil Emergency Service said Israeli forces executed two people whose bodies were found handcuffed in the compound and used bulldozers to exhume buried bodies. A Reuters was unable to verify the claim of executions and the Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Images that circulated on social media and have not yet been verified by Reuters showed the bodies of dead Palestinians, some with dirty blankets, scattered on the ground around the charred hospital building. Many of the exterior walls were missing. The image also showed several buildings outside the facility destroyed or on fire.

“I haven’t stopped crying since I arrived here, horrible massacres were committed by the occupation here,” said Samir Basel, 43, speaking to Reuters via a chat app while visiting Al Shifa. “The place is destroyed, the buildings were burned and destroyed. This place needs to be rebuilt – there is no more Shifa hospital,” Basel said.

Israel said operations inside Al Shifa were conducted “while avoiding harm to civilians, patients and medical professionals.”