Health workers in northern Gaza have begun the grim task of exhuming corpses from mass graves in and around Al-Shifa Hospital. They reported that Israeli forces killed hundreds of Palestinians and left their bodies to decompose during a two-week siege of the complex.
According to Gaza Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal, at least 381 bodies have been recovered from the vicinity of the complex since Israeli forces withdrew on April 1. This figure does not include individuals buried within the hospital grounds.
Officials revealed that many of the decomposed remains were either buried or found above ground. Some of those killed were crushed to death by Israeli tanks, rendering them unidentifiable due to severe disfigurement.
Basal stated that witnesses and civilians trapped inside the hospital during the raid described the area as 'full of bodies.' He further alleged that the occupation forces had plowed and buried these bodies in the ground.
Efforts to recover and identify the bodies are being led by Motasem Salah, an official from the Ministry of Health in Gaza. Salah emphasized the overwhelming stench of death permeating the area and the urgent need to identify the deceased to provide closure to their families.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza is working tirelessly to identify the bodies and provide information to families anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones' fate.
