Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital devastated in two-week battle, martyrs' toll at 32,845
GAZA, Palestine (AFP) - Israeli forces on Monday pulled out of Gaza's largest hospital complex after an intensive two-week military operation, leaving behind charred buildings and bodies strewn at the sprawling complex.
Israel said it had battled Palestinian militants hiding inside Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital, killed at least 200 enemy fighters and recovered large stockpiles of weapons, explosives and cash. The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that at least 32,845 people have been martyred in the territory during the war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The toll includes at least 63 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 75,392 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7. Monday's toll update was released hours after the Israeli military withdrew from Gaza's biggest hospital, Al-Shifa, after a two-week operation that saw heavy fighting.
A spokesman for Gaza's Civil Defence agency said Monday that Israeli forces martyred about 300 people in and around the hospital over the two weeks of the operation. The Israeli military said Saturday that "approximately 200 terrorists have been eliminated in the area of the hospital since the beginning of the activity".
The health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said that, after heavy Israeli air strikes and tank fire, "the scale of the destruction inside the complex and the buildings around it is very large". "Dozens of bodies, some of them decomposed, have been recovered from in and around the Al-Shifa medical complex," it said, adding that the hospital was now "completely out of service".
Several doctors and civilians at the damaged complex told AFP that at least 20 bodies had been found, some of which appeared to have been driven over by military vehicles. Several were found close to the west entrance to the complex, which the Israeli army used during its departure from the hospital grounds on Monday. "Bodies... The tanks went over them. Destruction. Children. Innocents. Unarmed civilians. They (soldiers) went over them," one witness said, asking not to be named.
An AFP correspondent saw one badly decomposed body bearing tyre marks, although it was not known when it was driven over. AFP has asked the Israeli military for comment. Battles have also flared around other Gaza hospitals almost six months into the war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attacks which have destroyed swathes of the besieged coastal territory. The Hamas government press office said the army had blown up more than 20 houses within 24 hours in the main southern city of Khan Yunis, where battles have raged around the Nasser and Al-Amal hospitals.
Hamas chief's sister arrested
Police told AFP that Sabah Abdel Salam Haniyeh, 57, who is an Israeli citizen, was taken into custody as part investigation also involving Israel's security agency Shin Bet. A police spokesman said she is "suspected of having contact with Hamas operatives and identifying with the organisation, while inciting and supporting acts of terrorism in Israel".
Hamas in a statement acknowledged the suffering and "exhaustion" of Gazans because of the war, while vowing to continue fighting until it achieves "victory and freedom" for Palestinians. The Israeli military said Monday that 600 soldiers had been killed since the start of the war -- including 256 in the Gaza ground invasion since late October.
Palestinian militants also seized around 250 hostages. Israel believes about 130 remain in Gaza, including 34 who are presumed dead. Israeli police meanwhile said they had arrested the sister of Qatar-based Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, as part of a terror probe, in the southern Israel town of Tel Sheva.
Battle destroys hospital
Over the past two weeks, the Israeli army carried out what it labelled "precise operational activity" at the Al-Shifa complex, before declaring on Monday that the forces had withdrawn.
The scene left behind was one of devastation, with windows blown out, concrete walls blackened and volunteers carrying away shrouded corpses across the sandy wasteland. Dozens of air strikes and shelling had hit the area around the complex in the morning, in heavy fire which the Hamas government media office said served to provide cover for the withdrawing troops and tanks.
The army has in recent days released footage of its fighters moving through the hospital's corridors, and pictures of large numbers of assault rifles, grenades and other weapons it said were recovered from the maternity ward. The military has said 200 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants were killed in fighting in and around Al-Shifa. Hamas has denied operating from Al-Shifa and other health facilities.
