Death and ruins at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital after 2-week battle between Hamas and Israeli troops ends
- Israel said 200 fighters were killed during the military operation at Gaza’s biggest hospital that was once a shelter for both patients and displaced people
- Doctors at the damaged complex said that at least 20 bodies had been found, some of which appeared to have been driven over by army vehicles
Hundreds of people stared at the smoke-blackened ruins of Gaza’s biggest hospital on Monday, horrified by the damage and death left behind by a fierce two-week battle between militants and Israeli troops.
The crowd stood amid debris and large mounds of dirt at the foot of a shell-pocked five-storey building in the sprawling al-Shifa complex that was once a shelter for both patients and displaced Gazans.
“Bodies and martyrs are scattered in al-Shifa Medical Complex. Medical teams are still working in the field to remove the bodies and injured people around and inside,” said Fares Afanah, an ambulance service official in northern Gaza.
In the early hours of March 18, Israeli forces launched a raid on the hospital they said targeted Hamas operatives – an operation that turned into a major battle in and around the complex.
Over the course of two weeks, they said 200 fighters were killed and hundreds more detained – while the civil defence agency in Hamas-run Gaza said “300 martyrs” had been killed.
“There is no medical centre, it was completely destroyed. The mass graves that were built here were destroyed,” said Afanah.