Gaza’s largest hospital ‘an empty shell with graves’

Gaza’s largest hospital had been reduced to ashes by Israel’s latest siege, leaving an ‘empty shell’ with many bodies, the World Health Organisation says.

The devastated Al-Shifa hospital complex has been reduced to rubble after a two-week operation by the Israeli military. Picture: AFP

Gaza’s largest hospital had been reduced to ashes by Israel’s latest siege, leaving an “empty shell” with many bodies, the World Health Organisation says.

WHO staff who gained access on Friday (Saturday AEDT) to the devastated centre described horrifying scenes of bodies only partially buried, with their limbs sticking out, and the stench of ­decomposing corpses.

Israeli forces pulled out of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City last Monday after a two-week military operation, during which it said it had battled Palestinian “militants” inside what was once the Palestinian territory’s most important medical complex.

The military said no patients or civilians were harmed as a result of the operation in which it had killed at least 200 Islamic militants and ­recovered stockpiles of weapons, explosives and cash.

A WHO-led mission finally ­accessed the hospital after several failed attempts since March 25, the UN health agency said.

It found massive destruction and heard reports that patients had been “held in abysmal conditions” during the siege and several had died.

“WHO and partners managed to reach al-Shifa – once the backbone of the health system in Gaza, which is now an empty shell with human graves after the latest siege,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.

Palestinians shelter in a makeshift tent made from a parachute used to airdrop food aid, set up on the rubble of their home in a devastated area around Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital. Picture: AFP

In a statement, WHO said no patients remained in the hospital, where “numerous shallow graves” had been dug just outside several buildings.

“Many dead bodies were partially buried with their limbs visible,” it said.

During their visit, WHO staff witnessed “at least five bodies lying partially covered on the ground, exposed to the heat”, it said.

“Safeguarding dignity, even in death, is an indispensable act of humanity,” the WHO stressed.

The mission, which was conducted with other UN agencies and the acting hospital director, found that “the scale of devastation has left the facility completely non-functional”.

“Most of the buildings in the hospital complex are extensively destroyed and the majority of ­assets damaged or reduced to ashes,” Mr Tedros said.

WHO said the acting hospital director had described how ­patients were “held in abysmal conditions during the siege”.

“They endured severe lack of food, water, healthcare, hygiene and sanitation, and were forced to relocate between buildings at gun point,” it said.

At least 20 patients reportedly died, it said, “due to the lack of ­access to care and limited movement authorised for health personnel”.

Mr Tedros said efforts by WHO and other aid groups to ­revive basic services at al-Shifa after Israel’s first devastating raid on the hospital last year “are now lost”.

“People are once again deprived of access to lifesaving health care services,” he said.

Of Gaza’s 36 main hospitals, only 10 remain even partially functional, according to the WHO.

Mr Tedros said urgent action was needed in Gaza as “famine looms, disease outbreaks spread and trauma injuries increase” among the trapped Palestinian population.

He called for the “protection of remaining health facilities in Gaza … unimpeded access of humanitarian aid into and across the Gaza Strip” and a “ceasefire”.

“Despite deconfliction, yesterday’s mission faced significant ­delays at the military checkpoint en route to al-Shifa hospital,” the WHO pointed out.

“As health needs soar, the lack of a functional deconfliction system is a major obstacle in delivering humanitarian aid – including medical supplies, fuel, food and water to hospitals – anywhere close to the scale needed.”

AFP