War on Gaza: Palestinians recover bodies left by Israeli army during al-Shifa raid
By Mohammed al-Hajjar in Gaza, occupied Palestine and Nader Durgham in Beirut
Published date: 9 April 2024 13:29 BST | Middle East Eye
▻https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-gaza-palestinians-recover-bodies-left-israeli-army-during-al-shif
Palestinians are recovering the bodies of those killed by Israel’s two-week raid on al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, but identification is proving difficult because of the state of decomposition.
After Israeli forces withdrew from the hospital on 1 April, teams from several government ministries have been deployed to al-Shifa to remove and identify bodies before burying them in cemeteries.
“We are now digging up all the martyrs that were executed by the [Israeli] army,” Hussein Mahassen, ambulance director in the Gaza Strip, told Middle East Eye. “Our capacities are very limited, as we are working with just one bulldozer.”
While it is unclear how many bodies have been buried in the hospital’s yard, the Civil Defence said that they have recovered 409 bodies from the medical complex since the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Mahassen said his team expects to find between 200 and 300 bodies buried in the ground in al-Shifa, but cannot confirm this number. (...)
