Eyewitnesses: ‘Total destruction’ around Shifa Hospital after fighting between Hamas and IDF

Eyewitnesses describe scenes of destruction as they return to the area surrounding Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital after the Israel Defense Forces withdrew troops at the conclusion of a two-week raid on terror groups using the medical complex as a command center.

Last week, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Hamas was “destroying Shifa Hospital,” as the military operated against the terror group at the medical center, the largest in the Gaza Strip.

Mohammed Mahdi, who was among those who returned, describes a scene of “total destruction.”

He says several buildings have been burned down and that he saw a number of bodies.

Another resident, Yahia Abu Auf, says army bulldozers plowed over a makeshift cemetery inside the hospital compound.

“The situation is indescribable,” he says. “The occupation destroyed all sense of life here.”

Last week, Hagari said Hamas was firing at troops from inside the Shifa Emergency Room and Maternity Ward and throwing explosive devices from the Shifa Burn Ward.

“Terrorists hiding around the hospital fired mortars at our forces, causing extensive damage to the hospital buildings,” Hagari said.

International law stipulates that while a medical facility is a protected site in conflict, it loses that status if it is used for military activity.

Israel has offered evidence Hamas uses such facilities as cover for terror purposes and says the group plunders humanitarian aid to take supplies for its fighters, depriving the civilian population.