By Muhamed Majid
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Doctors and injured people at Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital said Saturday that the Israeli army, during its siege of the medical complex, assaulted medical staff, arrested patients, and stole corpses.
“The Israeli army raided the hospital’s buildings, destroyed medical equipment and cut off electricity,” Moataz Harara, a physician at Al-Shifa, told Anadolu. “After the army withdrew, it blew up the electricity generators.”
“There are 40 patients in the emergency room who need to be evacuated to hospitals in the southern Gaza Strip since they require urgent medical care,” he added.
Mustafa Sukeik, another doctor at the hospital, told Anadolu that “the army besieged Al-Shifa and restricted movement. We were cut off from communications and struggled to obtain food.”
“The army inspected the complex’s buildings and asked me to move the patients from the respirology unit to another location in the facility,” he added.
Ibrahim Zakaria, an injured Palestinian man, told Anadolu: “I need urgent medical follow-up; the Israeli army besieged us inside the hospital for several days.”
“I demand to be evacuated immediately from the hospital and have my health condition monitored,” he added.
He also said that “my wife and children were besieged with me, and communications was cut off; I need to know the fate of my parents and sisters.”
The Israeli army withdrew from the Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza City on Friday after it had occupied the hospital for 10 days, driving out patients, injured, doctors, paramedics, other staff members, and ordinary civilians seeking safety from the escalating attacks on Gaza.
During the past few days, the army conducted extensive excavations, searches, and sweeps inside the medical facility. This resulted in the death of several displaced people and wounded inside, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The army’s withdrawal came hours after a temporary humanitarian pause between Israel and Hamas took effect on Friday morning.
Israel and Hamas swapped 24 Israelis and foreigners for 39 Palestinians from Israeli jails on Friday, the first day of the four-day humanitarian pause.
Under the agreement, the hostages will be released in batches over the course of four days.
Israel launched a massive military campaign against the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.
It has since killed at least 14,854 Palestinians, including 6,150 children and over 4,000 women, according to health authorities in the enclave.
The official Israeli death toll stands at 1,200.
*Writing by Ziad Aslan