LONDON: Israeli forces pulled out of Gaza鈥檚 largest hospital complex this week after an intensive 14-day military operation, purportedly against Hamas, leaving behind ruined buildings and charred bodies in the sprawling complex. However, accounts of what happened vary.

The Israeli army carried out what it called two weeks of 鈥減recise operational activity鈥� at the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, before declaring its forces had withdrawn on Monday. Those who survived the siege, however, dispute the claim that the operation was 鈥減recise.鈥�

鈥淎t 2:30, after midnight, they stormed the reception area, killing people and bombing indiscriminately,鈥� one patient, who was trapped in Al-Shifa Hospital when the Israeli military mounted its raid on March 18, told a local reporter.

鈥淭he army employed the most horrific killing methods. And of course, they humiliated and insulted us. They threw a bomb in here. They deliberately fired at the walls.鈥�

Two weeks of heavy fighting in and around Al-Shifa led by Shayetet 13, Israel鈥檚 equivalent of the US Navy SEALs, began with a surprise raid on the complex on March 18. The Israeli military said no patients or civilians were harmed as a result of the operation.

The grounds for the operation, Israel claimed, was that members of Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups were barricaded inside the complex. Around a month ago, Israeli military officials said they had intercepted communications and picked up other intelligence indicating militants were regrouping at the hospital compound.

Hamas has repeatedly denied using medical facilities for military purposes.

However, in November, when the Israeli military first raided Al-Shifa, officials claimed they had found a tunnel beneath the hospital leading to weapons storage areas inside medical buildings.

On March 31, a senior Israeli officer told foreign journalists brought into Al-Shifa that after the troops had left the hospital in November, Hamas fighters had returned to seek shelter among civilians.

Confirming their withdrawal on Monday, the Israel Defense Forces said its troops had 鈥渆liminated鈥� a 鈥渢errorist base鈥� in Al-Shifa, killed at least 200 Hamas and other militants, and had seized weapons and intelligence.

It also said it had arrested 900 people suspected of being militants.

Conflicting with the Israeli account of events, Gaza鈥檚 health ministry said at least 400 Palestinians were killed in the operation, with that number expected to rise as Al-Shifa鈥檚 medics and local volunteers continue to recover bodies from inside and around the facility.

An AFP correspondent reported seeing 鈥渙ne badly decomposed body bearing tyre marks, although it was not known when it was driven over,鈥� while several doctors and civilians told the news agency they had found at least 20 bodies that 鈥渁ppeared to have been driven over by military vehicles.鈥�

A report released on April 1 by the Euro-Med Monitor, an independent NGO headquartered in Geneva, said that although the exact number of casualties remains unknown, 鈥減reliminary reports suggest that over 1,500 Palestinians have been killed, injured, or are reported missing鈥� in and around Al-Shifa as a result of the 14-day Israeli raid.

The NGO confirmed from its initial investigation and testimonies that 鈥渉undreds of dead bodies, including some burned and others with their heads and limbs severed, have been discovered both inside Al-Shifa Medical Complex and in the hospital鈥檚 surrounding area.鈥�

Another report by Euro-Med claimed that 13 children had been shot dead in Al-Shifa and its vicinity.

The report, published on March 27, said the raid amounted to a 鈥渨ar crime鈥� and a 鈥渇lagrant violation of international law,鈥� adding that its field team had 鈥渞eceived identical testimonies about the killings and executions of Palestinian children between the ages of four and 16.鈥�

Meanwhile, 21 of the hospital鈥檚 patients are reported to have died during the raid, while 107 others, including four children and 28 people in critical condition, had remained trapped inside the complex until the Israeli troops pulled out, according to the World Health Organization.

One of Al-Shifa鈥檚 doctors, Amira Al-Safady, told the BBC鈥檚 Gaza Lifeline radio that 16 patients from the intensive care unit died because there was no longer equipment to treat them.

Surgical resident Amer Jedbeh told the BBC there was no electricity or water during the siege, making it impossible to operate on those injured after a shell hit his department鈥檚 building. He said two patients on life support had died after the electricity supply was cut ahead of the raid.

Euro-Med said that at least 22 of Al-Shifa鈥檚 patients, deprived of food, medical care and water, died in their hospital beds during the siege.

The Israeli military also 鈥渃ommitted horrendous crimes against local families,鈥� Euro-Med said. Soldiers had allegedly forced more than 25,000 Palestinians to evacuate their homes near Al-Shifa before demolishing and setting ablaze at least 1,200 housing units.

Reporters from the Washington Post, who were invited by the IDF into Al-Shifa on Sunday, said the compound smelled 鈥渓ike death鈥� and 鈥渙f bodies鈥� and 鈥渞ot.鈥�

While they were told a few Hamas operatives 鈥渕ight still be moving around the hospital,鈥� they 鈥渟aw only Israeli soldiers.鈥�

Not only this, but they also 鈥渄idn鈥檛 see a single Palestinian鈥� during their visit, although there were 140 staff members and patients that the IDF claimed to be 鈥渟heltering鈥� in a nearby building.

The Post鈥檚 journalists noted that Al-Shifa鈥檚 buildings 鈥渨ere not pancaked by big bombs, but targeted by Israel鈥檚 air force strikes, artillery fire and small arms.鈥� They described the IDF鈥檚 operation as 鈥渁ll-out urban warfare.鈥�

Al-Shifa, one of Gaza鈥檚 36 hospitals, has been knocked out of service indefinitely, said Marwan Abu Saada, the complex鈥檚 director and one of its physicians, in a press briefing held on Tuesday outside the medical facility.

He said the buildings of Al-Shifa Medical Complex 鈥渉ave been fully destroyed鈥� and can no longer accommodate any patients, perform surgeries, or conduct laboratory tests. 鈥淓ven the management鈥檚 offices have been destroyed.鈥�

鈥淭hese buildings are now on the verge of collapse,鈥� he said. 鈥淣ot only is the facade destroyed, but the destruction inside the buildings is far worse. Bombs were planted inside the specialized surgery department. The two lower floors are in ruins.鈥�

New field hospitals were urgently needed, he said, amid the growing medical needs in Gaza City and the northern governorates.

Recent footage and photographs that have emerged since the raid show the massive scale of destruction that Abu Saada described.

The main buildings have been reduced to scorched husks and gnarled metal rods, and the courtyard that was last year home to makeshift tents sheltering some 50,000 displaced Palestinians now heaped with rubble.

The violence did not even spare a nearby clinic belonging to Medecins Sans Frontieres, which said in a press release on Tuesday that the heavy fighting had 鈥渄amaged the office, clinic, all the cars, and the generators.鈥�

The MSF was forced to evacuate the medical complex in November amid a campaign of airstrikes in the vicinity of Al-Shifa.

Prior to the conflict, Al-Shifa was made up of three specialized hospitals, for surgery, internal medicine, and obstetrics and gynecology.

Built on a 42,000-square-meter plot, the medical complex had a clinical capacity of 800 beds and covered the hospitalization needs of the Gaza Strip as a whole.

Despite enduring a previous siege in November, Al-Shifa continued to be partially operational, with its small medical team treating more than 200 patients in March, according to the MSF.

Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip have now been left without a single public hospital operating at the scale of Al-Shifa, the complex鈥檚 director Abu Saada said, accusing Israel of systematically annihilating the healthcare system in Gaza.

Since the IDF launched its assault on the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack, 26 out of the enclave鈥檚 36 hospitals have been knocked out of action, while 12 were only partially functional in March.

Battleground: Jerusalem

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