Israeli troops have withdrawn from Gaza’s largest hospital after a 19-day raid, leaving parts of it completely destroyed, with reports of dozens of dead bodies at the scene.
Following eyewitness reports early on Monday of IDF troops leaving the compound in Gaza City, the Israeli army confirmed that the raid, which began on March 18, had concluded.
In a statement, it said: “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.”
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, adding that 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 because of its special protected status as a hospital as well as their prior knowledge of the place.
The first images from Al-Shifa showed devastation. The building of the surgical department stood charred, pockmarked with shrapnel and heavily damaged. The yard in front of it, once full of tents housing displaced people, was apparently bulldozed over.
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