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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-troops-withdraw-al-shifa-leaving-pile-dead-bodies">middleeasteye.net</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Israeli troops withdraw from al-Shifa hospital, leaving piles of dead bodies</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Mohammed al-Hajjar</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">April 1, 2024<br></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div><p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel" target="_blank">Israel</a>'s army has withdrawn from <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israeli-army-says-it-finished-its-operation-al-shifa-hospital?nid=350241&topic=Israel-Palestine%2520war&fid=508596" target="_blank">al-Shifa Hospital</a> in Gaza following a two week siege, leaving in its wake destroyed buildings and piles of dead bodies.</p>
<p>The complex - the largest medical facility in all of <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine" target="_blank">Palestine</a>
- was left in complete ruins. Military officials said on Monday that
its forces killed 200 people and arrested 900 during its 15-day military
assault on the hospital. Gaza's civil defence put the figure of those
killed at around 300.</p>
<p>The army <a href="https://aje.io/kwvlol?update=2810697" target="_blank">said</a> it
conducted its raid without harming civilians and medical personnel, but
medical organisations and eyewitnesses have strongly rejected the
claim.</p>
<p>The World Health Organisation said at least 21 patients died during
the siege. Survivors told Middle East Eye that scores of civilians were
killed during the fortnight-long siege.</p>
<p>"People were shot at and attacked. We are civilians," a young man said. "The scene was worse than an earthquake."</p>
<p>"There were no doctors. Some of them were killed, some of them got
arrested. Those who survived, survived. Those who died, died. Fifteen
days of siege in al-Shifa with nothing, no food, no water." </p>
<blockquote>
<p>'There were no doctors. Some of them were killed, some of them got arrested. Those who survived, survived. Those who died, died'</p>
<p><em>- al-Shifa witness</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The structure of the complex was damaged in every building, with destroyed equipment and paperwork strewn everywhere. </p>
<p>At the special surgery unit, one of the newest buildings in the hospital, all that remained was piles of rocks and metal.</p>
<p>Among the units destroyed were the kidney and maternity buildings,
the morgues, refrigeration facilities, as well as the outpatient clinics
building.</p>
<p>Scores of dead bodies, including of children, women and the elderly,
filled the streets near the complex. Medical sources said hundreds of
bodies were found.</p>
<p>"My son, my son, my beloved son!" a woman screamed out, weeping as she held her dead son wrapped under white sheets.</p>
<h3>Medical staff executed</h3>
<p>Gaza's civil defence arrived at the hospital on Monday to begin a recovery operation following Israel's withdrawal.</p>
<p>Outside in the courtyard, people dug graves to bury those killed whose bodies were left to rot over the past two weeks. </p>
<p>Wafa news agency reported that a temporary cemetery that had been set
up in al-Shifa was dug up by Israeli forces, with bodies exhumed and
dumped in different areas of the hospital.</p>
<p>Hospital buildings were set on fire by Israeli forces during the
raid, and civil defence teams were not allowed to put them out,
according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS). </p>
<div>
<p><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/al-shifa-hospital-destroyed-1-april-2024-afp.jpg" width="395" height="263" alt="al shifa hospital damage" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;"></p>
<font size="1">Palestinians inspect the damage outside Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital on 1 April 2024 (AFP)</font></div>
<p><span><img src="cid:ii_luh2xlnb0" alt="image.gif" width="15" height="15"></span></p>
<p><span><img src="cid:ii_luh2xlnh1" alt="image.gif" width="15" height="15"></span></p>
<p><span><img src="cid:ii_luh2xlnk2" alt="image.gif" width="15" height="15"></span>"The
situation is dire, the medical staff, some of them were killed, others
tortured, others detained," Raed al-Nims, a spokesperson for PRCS, told
Al-Jazeera. </p>
<div><p>"According to eyewitness accounts and official reports, many of
the civilians were executed. They were killed by the Israeli forces
including medical staff, doctors and nurses, they were purposefully
executed by the Israeli soldiers.</p><p>
“We do not have final figures yet, but there is no doubt that it is
confirmed that many were killed either directly by the Israeli forces or
starved to death.”</p></div>
<p>Last week, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said those arrested at al-Shifa were "very important Hamas officials". </p>
<p>Israel has yet to provide any evidence of those claims. Hagari said
Israel was not revealing the identities of those arrested "because they
hold significant intelligence".</p>
<p>He said that more would be revealed once Israel had interrogated those detained.</p>
<h3>'Where is the UN?'</h3>
<p>MEE spoke to several people at al-Shifa whose loved ones were killed or wounded during the siege. </p>
<p>Mohammed Garageh said his mother died on the second day of the siege. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>'We took the white flag and went out... and they shot him. Why? Why would they shoot him?"</p>
<p><em>- Faten Mohammed Dabbour, Gaza</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>He said that men and women were seperated after Israeli forces
entered the hospital, leaving his eldery and sick mother without his
help. </p>
<p>"She spoke to me [on the phone] telling me 'My son, I do not have any
medication, nor do I have any food or water, where are you my love?'
That was the last thing I heard from my mother."</p>
<p>He found her the next day, lying dead in the maternity building of al-Shifa. He recognised her from her hair and clothes.</p>
<p>"This whole time, I was living with only her. Now she has left me and I am on my own."</p>
<p>Bassel Helo said his family members were sheltering at a neighbour's
house in the vicinity of the hospital, when a drone strike hit the
building. Seven people were killed.</p>
<p>"Corpses were starting to melt," Helo said, explaining that it took
seven days for anyone to reach the building to bury the dead bodies.</p>
<p>Faten Mohammed Dabbour, an elderly woman, said her grandson was shot during the siege. </p>
<div>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-gaza-war-journey-death-destruction-one-woman" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/Mayar.jpg.webp?itok=V0SFBFuQ" width="395" height="247" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p><p><font size="1">War on Gaza: One Palestinian woman's journey through death and destruction</font></p>
<p><br>
</p></div>
<p>"We took the white flag and went out... and they shot him. Why? Why would they shoot him?" she told MEE.</p>
<p>"I told the soldier 'I need medical help, why did you do this?' and he looked at me as if nothing happened." </p>
<p>Dabbour said that during the siege, a 95-year-old woman was praying
when her house was bombed by Israeli forces, killing those inside.</p>
<p>She asked where the United Nations and international community were,
referring to last week's UN Security Council vote for a ceasefire.</p>
<p>"Where is the UN? The US supposedly did not use the veto - where are
they? Or do they just give [Israel] weapons to kill us with?</p>
<p>"Only God protects us, not Saudi Arabia, not Egypt."</p>
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