179 bodies buried in ‘mass grave’ at Gaza’s biggest hospital’

Jerusalem, Undefined – AFP

Gaza’s main hospital has been forced to bury scores of dead patients in a mass grave, its director said Tuesday.
At least 179 people, including babies and patients who died in the intensive care unit, were buried in the “mass grave” at Gaza’s biggest hospital, said director Mohammad Abu Salmiya.

Seven babies and 29 intensive care patients were among those buried after hospital fuel supplies ran out at the compound, which has repeatedly been attacked by Israel.

Israeli forces were at the gates of the sprawling Al-Shifa hospital they say sits atop an underground Hamas command base, but the group denies the charge and doctors say thousands of people are stranded inside in horrific conditions.

“There are bodies littered in the hospital complex and there is no longer electricity at the morgues,” said Abu Salmiyah.

“We were forced to bury them in a mass grave,” he said.

A witness said the smell of decomposing bodies was everywhere in the facility.

The United Nations believes that thousands, and perhaps more than 10,000 people — patients, staff and displaced civilians — may be inside and unable to escape because of Israeli attacks.

Israel claims it is not targeting the hospital.

The health ministry in Gaza says Israel’s relentless assault has killed 11,240 people, including thousands of children, since October 7 when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing 1200 and capturing more than 200 people.

Israel’s military says 47 of its troops have been killed in Gaza.

Palestinians told AFP how they were hit by a strike on their way south.
“I walked around three to four kilometres (around two miles) while I was bleeding,” said Hasan Baker, whose head and left hand were bandaged. “There was no possibility for any ambulance to enter the area.

“We didn’t have any weapons,” he added. “We are civilians, we were moving from one place to another according to the instructions of the (Israeli) occupation.”

– Prisoner swap talks –

Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas’s military wing, said Monday that a possible deal would involve the release 100 Israeli hostages in return for 200 Palestinian children and 75 women held in Israeli prisons.
“We informed the mediators we could release the hostages if we obtained five days of truce… and passage of aid to all of our people throughout the Gaza Strip, but the enemy is procrastinating,” Abu Obeida said in an audio statement.