Israeli troops end 19-day siege of Al-Shifa hospital

Israeli troops have withdrawn from Gaza’s largest hospital after a 19-day raid, leaving parts of it completely destroyed amid reports of dozens of dead bodies left at the scene.

Following eyewitness reports early on Monday of IDF troops leaving the compound in Gaza City, the Israeli army confirmed that its operation at Al-Shifa Hospital that started on March 18 has wrapped up.

“The troops killed terrorists in close-quarters encounters, located numerous weapons and intelligence documents throughout the hospital, while preventing harm to civilians, patients, and medical teams,” the IDF said in a statement.

Out of some 900 people detained in the raid, over 500 were identified as operatives of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to the Israeli army.

Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesman, told reporters on Monday there were “very important Hamas officials” among those arrested at Al-Shifa. Israel would not immediately reveal their identity, he said, as it could jeopardise further intelligence gathering.

Mr Hagari also cited the testimony of unnamed fighters who reportedly said they chose Al-Shifa as the place to regroup in the north of Gaza due to its special protected status as a hospital as well as their prior knowledge of the place.

The first images from Al-Shifa showed utter devastation. The building of the surgical department stood charred, pockmarked with shrapnel and heavily damaged as the yard in front of it, once full of tents with displaced people, was turned into a giant sand pit after the area was apparently bulldozed over.

Rescue workers and journalists who arrived at the scene on Monday morning reported multiple bodies strewn across the sprawling compound.

“The scale of the destruction inside the complex and the buildings around it is very large,” Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry said in a statement. “Dozens of bodies, some of them decomposed, have been recovered from in and around the Al-Shifa medical complex.”

Aerial footage of the hospital showed widespread devastation at the compound, with not a single building left standing. Graphic photos from the bulldozed areas showed bodies and body parts apparently crushed by withdrawing vehicles.

Residents who arrived at Al-Shifa to inspect the damage spoke of “total destruction”.

“The situation is indescribable,” Yahia Abu Auf told the Associated Press at the scene. “The occupation destroyed all sense of life here.”

A representative of the Palestinian Red Crescent said on Monday some hospital buildings were set on fire by the Israeli forces.

“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,” Raed Al-Nims told the Al Jazeera TV channel.

Mr Hagari, the IDF spokesman, said on Monday the Israeli forces had done their best to prevent civilian casualties including the hospital’s patients.

While some patients have been evacuated to two other hospitals, dozens of other patients are believed to have remained inside the compound despite the siege.

At least 21 patients have died at Al-Shifa since the IDF began the operation there on March 18, according to the World Health Organisation.

On Monday, the death at the hospital of Ahmad Maqadmeh, a prominent surgeon, was announced. Ghassan Abu Sitta, another surgeon at Al-Shifa, credited him for his dedication to his work, saying it was “unlike anything I have ever seen”.