Medical service crews are working to recover hundreds of bodies “scattered” around the Al-Shifa medical complex, they said on Monday, as the scale of destruction emerges following the Israeli forces’ withdrawal from the besieged compound.
“What is happening here is a catastrophe in the truest sense of the word, against humanity and against the health system in the Gaza Strip,” said Fares Afanca, head of ambulance crews in Gaza city.
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, head of the Palestine Initiative and director of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society described a “massacre” with “hundreds of mutilated bodies of children, women and civilian men killed by the Israeli army.” One hundred and thirty “sick and injured people were found in terrible health condition, dehydrated, starving, with their wounds infected and covered with flies,” he continued.
Several decomposed and disfigured bodies partly buried beneath the rubble of what was once the structures of Gaza’s largest hospital can be seen in videos obtained by CNN.
CNN has asked the IDF to comment on accusations of crushing bodies. In a briefing Monday, spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the IDF had distinguished between patients, medics and civilians sheltering at the medical complex and militants and had done its utmost to avoid civilian harm, reaffirming the 14-day siege was an “anti-terror” mission. According to the Civil Defense in Gaza on Monday, 300 bodies have been found at the Al-Shifa complex.
