‘There is no life here’: The aftermath of al-Shifa Hospital siege
“Buildings in all departments have been burned, and the structure of the complex has been damaged from the inside,” said Al Jazeera Arabic’s Ismail al-Ghoul, adding that stairs, doors, and the walls of the facility are “destroyed”.
“From what we can see, it appears the occupation forces deliberately targeted the health sector and destroyed the largest medical complex in Gaza City,” said al-Ghoul.
People are trying to salvage what they can from the ruins, as the hospital was also serving as a shelter for displaced people, he added.
“There is no life here. The complex is in ruins and cannot be revived.”
Gaza’s civil defence and medical authorities are heading to al-Shifa Hospital for recovery operations following the Israeli withdrawal, says Moath al-Kahlout, reporting from Gaza’s northern city of Jabalia.
There is “confirmed news” that the buildings of the complex and medical machines inside the hospital “are totally destroyed”, al-Kahlout said. Dead bodies are scattered in the street near the hospital, he added.
At one point, 107 patients were stuck inside the human resource development building, “which is not prepared at all for medical care”.
Israeli military confirms withdrawal from al-Shifa Hospital
Israeli forces say that during their two-week operation, they killed Palestinian gunmen and seized weaponry and intelligence documents. The raid on the hospital had been conducted “while preventing harm to civilians, patients and medical teams”, the military said.
The WHO, however, has said 21 patients died since Israel began its siege of the facility on March 18. Our correspondents are also reporting widespread destruction of the complex.
‘The smell of corpses filled the place’: Nurse recounts seige of al-Shifa Hospital
“During [the] siege inside al-Shifa Hospital, we did not have the means to treat patients … We could not treat or bury them,” says a nurse with al-Shifa Hospital who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The smell of corpses filled the place,” she added. “What happened to us is indescribable.”
Aftermath of the Israeli raid on al-Shifa Hospital
Al-Shifa’s legacy destroyed
Norwegian physician Dr Mads Gilbert, who has spent extensive time working in Gaza, including at al-Shifa hospital, says the siege of the facility has destroyed its legacy. “The Israeli occupation forces this night have ended 78 years of brave medical history,” Gilbert told Al Jazeera, speaking from Tromso, Norway.
The hospital was built in 1946 and was the most important flagship hospital for the healthcare for people in Gaza, he said. “This is such a sad day, I’ve been weeping all morning.”
Meanwhile, the fate of the 107 critical patients who were moved two days ago to an old part of the medical complex remains unknown, Gilbert said. People are now searching for corpses at the site, finding “the most horrible decomposed corpses with maggots coming out of the eyes”.
“The maggots that are creeping out of the corpses in al-Shifa Hospital now are really maggots coming out of the eyes of President Biden and the EU leaders doing nothing to stop this horrible, horrible genocide,” the physician said.
Hundreds of bodies lay strewn at al-Shifa Hospital: Report
Hundreds of bodies of slain civilians were found at al-Shifa Medical Complex, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported medical sources as saying. The sources said Israeli forces destroyed the temporary cemetery that citizens had set up at the site, taking out the bodies from underground and dumping them in different areas of the hospital.
Wafa also reported that the Israeli army dug up the grounds of the complex and dumped the buried bodies in different areas of the hospital.
Al-Shifa Hospital before and after Israel’s two-week siege
Israeli forces ‘executed’ multiple civilians at al-Shifa Hospital, says PRCS
Raed al-Nims, a representative for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, says many departments at al-Shifa Hospital were “set on fire”, and “many bodies” are lying around the hospital.
“The situation is dire, the medical staff, some of them were killed, others tortured, others detained, and above all, they have been besieged for two weeks without any medical supplies or even food or water,” al-Nims told Al Jazeera.
He added that civil defence teams were not allowed to put out fires started at the hospital, which caused immense damage.
“According to eyewitness accounts and official reports, many of the civilians were executed. They were killed by the Israeli occupation forces including medical staff, doctors and nurses, they were purposefully executed by the Israeli soldiers,” al-Nims said.
“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 occupation forces or [were] starved to death.”
Gaza a ‘moral’ crisis, says UNICEF director
UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East Adele Khodr says Gaza is not just a humanitarian crisis but a “moral” one.
“It is a test for our humanity and ability to save the children’s lives,” she said on X, adding that it “will have a consequence on the future”.
My view on #Gaza: it is not just a humanitarian crisis; it is a moral one. It is a test for our humanity & ability to save the children’s lives. The action or lack of it, will have a consequence on the future & history will judge our collective actions. https://t.co/4l1qkCZr4n
— Adele Khodr (@AdeleKhodr) April 1, 2024
