Israeli troops have withdrawn from Gaza’s largest hospital after a 19-day raid, leaving parts of it completely destroyed amid reports of dozens of dead bodies left at the scene.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