Israel withdraws from Al-Shifa, leaving hundreds of bodies and massive destruction

The Israeli army announced on Monday that “delicate field operations” had been completed at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, where an Israeli army helicopter bombed a fortified compound from which Palestinian fighters were monitoring Israeli army forces.

An army statement said that its forces and the Shin Bet had ended operations in the Shifa Hospital area and left the hospital complex. The forces killed Palestinian fighters in close confrontations, and found many weapons and intelligence documents throughout the hospital, while preventing harm to civilians, patients, and medical teams.

In the central Gaza Strip, an Israeli army helicopter, under the direction of Israeli army forces, bombed a booby-trapped military compound of Hamas fighters from which they were observing Israeli forces and an additional military compound belonging to Hamas.

Earlier, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported on Monday that the Israeli army withdrew from the medical complex that includes Al-Shifa Hospital in the besieged Strip, days after it launched a large-scale military operation at the site.

The ministry said that dozens of bodies were recovered from inside and around the medical complex. However, the Israeli army, which described its operation in the complex as “precise” and targeting Hamas, did not immediately confirm that it had implemented any withdrawal.

Palestinian Radio, quoting Civil Defense, said that about 300 dead were found in the Shifa Medical Complex and its surroundings in Gaza after the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Al-Aqsa TV said that dozens of bodies were found in the Al-Shifa Medical Complex and its surroundings in Gaza City after the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

The television reported that Israeli vehicles withdrew from the vicinity of the compound towards southwest Gaza City. He added, quoting security sources, that the vehicles fired heavily during their withdrawal.

The television reported that the emergency committees warned citizens not to rush to inspect the conditions of Al-Shifa Hospital for fear of the presence of ambushes and snipers in the vicinity of the complex.

Palestinian TV, in turn, said that the buildings of the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City were burned. He added that the complex was completely out of service. The television said that there was major damage to the complex and the buildings surrounding it.

The Times of Israel reported on Monday that the Israeli army announced the killing of a non-commissioned officer in battles in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday. She added that the number of army deaths had risen to 256 soldiers since the start of the ground operation in Gaza.

The Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip continued yesterday, Sunday, and at least 77 people were killed in Israeli raids within twenty-four hours, according to the Ministry of Health.

Fighting continues in the Palestinian Strip, especially around a number of hospitals, most of which are out of service, and in which the Israeli army accuses Hamas fighters of hiding.

In Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City (north), which is the largest health institution in the Palestinian Strip, the army claimed that it had killed about 200 “terrorists” since the start of its operation on March 18, and that it had found many weapons. According to the World Health Organization, 100 patients and 50 health workers are still in recovery.

The organisation’s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated in a post that 21 patients had died in Al-Shifa Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip since March 18. He added that the hospital, which was the largest in Gaza before the outbreak of the war, had only one bottle of water for every 15 people.

Likewise, Hamas reported that Israeli forces were present in the Nasser Hospital complex in the southern Gaza Strip, while the Palestinian Red Crescent stated that operations were taking place in Al Amal Hospital, also located in the southern Gaza Strip.

The World Health Organization announced on Sunday that four people were killed and 17 others injured in an Israeli bombing of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza Strip.

For its part, the Israeli army said on the He added, “After this precise strike, the Al-Aqsa Hospital building was not damaged and its function was not affected.”

The war broke out on October 7, following an attack carried out by Hamas on southern Israel, killing 1,160 people, most of them children and women, according to an Agence France-Presse count based on official Israeli figures.

During the attack, about 250 people were kidnapped, 130 of whom are still hostage in Gaza, and 34 of them are believed to have died.

Israel “eliminated” Hamas and has since launched a large-scale military operation that began in the northern Gaza Strip and reached the outskirts of Rafah.

In the West Bank, the Israeli army announced that a Palestinian wanted in connection with a shooting at a school bus turned himself in on Sunday.

Three people, including a 13-year-old boy, were injured in the shooting that occurred Thursday near the city of Jericho and also included a car.

In another incident on Sunday, the Israeli police announced the killing of a person suspected of carrying out a knife attack that injured two people, including a soldier, at the main bus station in the city of Beersheba in the south of the country.