Israel’s military has withdrawn from Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, after a 14-day siege that witnesses and Palestinian officials say has left buildings largely destroyed and bodies strewn across the complex, CNN reports.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed its withdrawal Monday, saying its troops had killed Hamas militants, and seized weaponry and intelligence documents.
“The terrorist base in Shifa has been eliminated,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Monday, praising the IDF’s “determined and professional action.”
Medical crews are working to recover hundreds of bodies scattered across the grounds at Al-Shifa, with at least 300 bodies found so far, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense. Determining the precise number of people killed is difficult, it added, because Israeli troops had buried bodies inside and around the complex and bulldozed nearby roads.
IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said 900 suspected militants had been detained during its two-week operation. More than 500 of these had been identified as members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Hagari said Monday, adding some of those detained are “commanders and significant people.”
CNN is unable to verify the numbers of bodies inside Al-Shifa independently because of the lack of reporting access in Gaza. CNN has reached out to the IDF on these figures but is yet to hear back.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health said about 3,000 people were inside the hospital when the IDF began its raid on March 18 – its second on the facility in nearly six months of war with Hamas.
After claiming its first operation in November had been a success, the IDF in January said it had completely dismantled Hamas’ command structure in northern Gaza – only for Hamas reportedly to return to the same site months later, sparking a renewed Israeli assault.
Khader Al Za’anoun, a journalist from the official Palestinian news agency Wafa also working for CNN, said the scene at Al-Shifa after the IDF’s withdrawal was like a “horror movie.”
