Israeli forces leave Gaza's Shifa hospital in ruins as they withdraw after 14-day occupation

A general view shows the destruction in the area surrounding Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital after the Israeli military withdrew from the complex housing the hospital on Monday, April 1, 2024, amid the ongoing battles Israel and the Hamas militant group. - AFP

GAZA (Bernama-Anadolu) -- After a 14-day occupation, Israeli forces withdrew from Shifa Hospital, the largest medical facility in the Gaza Strip, leaving it completely demolished and dozens dead, reported Anadolu Agency (AA).

Witnesses stated that Israeli occupation forces completely withdrew from the Shifa Hospital and surrounding settlements, moving to the southern part of the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood in southwest Gaza.

Israeli forces, before withdrawing, burned down all the buildings of the Shifa Hospital, rendering it completely non-operational. The surgical floors and rooms of the hospital were completely demolished, the rest were burned down, and the main reception and emergency building were set on fire, destroying all medical equipment inside, according to witnesses.

Witnesses also expressed that Israeli forces additionally burned down the kidney, maternity, morgue, cancer, and burn units, and demolished the outpatient clinic building.

Witnesses, mentioning dozens of dead in Shifa Hospital and the surrounding streets of Omar al-Mukhtar, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, Abu Hasira, Bekir, and Habbush, stated that the army demolished the temporary cemetery set up by Palestinians in Shifa Hospital, removed the bodies, and threw them into different areas of the hospital.

The hospital came under siege on March 18, and since then Israeli forces killed more than 400 Palestinians and demolished over 1,050 homes during the 14-day raid on the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the government media office reported Saturday.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct 7.

Nearly 32,800 Palestinians have since been killed and 75,300 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities. Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85 per cent of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60 per cent of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which on Thursday asked Israel to do more to prevent famine in Gaza. - Bernama-Anadolu