Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza’s main hospital after two-week raid, leaving destruction and dead bodies
Israeli forces have withdrawn from Gaza’s main hospital after a two-week raid, leaving behind destroyed buildings and dead bodies.
The military said it had killed some 200 Hamas and other militants and detained hundreds more in clashes in the area of the hospital, and had seized weapons and intelligence documents.
Hundreds rushed to the area around the hospital to investigate the damage and say they found bodies inside and outside the facility.
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Pic: Maxar Technologies
Before and after images show the sheer level of destruction at the hospital.
Pictures show the charred remains and damage to some of Shifa’s largest buildings, including the surgery building and emergency department.
Israel has accused Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes and has raided several medical facilities.
But critics accuse the army of recklessly endangering civilians and further damaging a health sector already overwhelmed with war wounded.
The UN health agency said several patients died and dozens were put at risk during the raid, which brought even further destruction to the hospital.
Palestinians say Israeli troops forcibly evacuated homes near Shifa Hospital and forced hundreds of residents to march south.
Palestinians inspect damage in the area around al Shifa Hospital. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
At least 21 patients have died since the raid began, World Health Organisation director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X.
He said over 100 patients were still inside the compound, including four children and 28 critical patients, adding there were no nappies, urine bags or water to clean wounds and many patients suffered from infected wounds and dehydration.
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Pics: Reuters
The military previously raided Shifa in November after saying Hamas had an elaborate command and control centre inside and underneath the compound.
It revealed a tunnel running beneath the hospital leading to a few rooms, as well as weapons it said it had confiscated from inside medical buildings, but nothing on the scale of what it had alleged before the raid.
Tens of thousands protest in Israel as Netanyahu’s undergoes surgery
It comes a day after tens of thousands of people in Israel took part in anti-government protests while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underwent “successful” surgery for a hernia.
Protesters in Jerusalem urged the government to reach a ceasefire deal to free dozens of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas and called for an early election, which is not due to happen until the spring of 2026.
Hostage negotiations resumed on Sunday, according to an Egyptian state-run TV station citing security sources, but there were no signs a breakthrough was imminent.
Before his surgery Mr Netnayahu said he understood the pain the families of hostages are in, but argued calling for a new election nearly two years early would only halt hostage negotiations.
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‘Nothing will stop’ Rafah operation
‘No victory without going into Rafah’
Mr Netanyahu also repeated his vow for a military ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than half of the territory’s population is sheltering after fleeing from fighting.
“There is no victory without going into Rafah,” he said.
It comes amid reports from US news website Axios that the US and Israel are expecting to hold a virtual meeting on Monday to discuss alternative proposals put forward by President Joe Biden to stop an invasion of the city.
World
Director of one of last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza detained in Israeli military raid
The director of one of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza was arrested in a raid the Israeli military said was targeting a Hamas command centre.
The Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry said Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, was held by Israeli forces on Friday along with dozens of other staff and taken to an interrogation centre.
Sky News has spoken to patients who say they were forced outside and told to strip in winter weather after troops stormed the hospital.
Israel‘s military said it “conducted and completed a targeted operation” as the hospital was being used as a command centre for Hamas military operations.
Dr Hussam Abu Safiya. File pic
An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) statement said more than 240 terrorists were detained, some of whom tried to pose as patients or flee using ambulances.
Among those taken for questioning are the hospital’s director, who it said was suspected of being a “Hamas terrorist operative”.
Around 15 people involved in last year’s 7 October attack on southern Israel, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 250 others abducted, were also detained, the IDF said.
The Israeli military said hundreds of patients and staff were evacuated to another hospital before and during the operation, and it had provided fuel and medical supplies to both hospitals.
Militants fired on its forces and they were “eliminated”, while weapons, including grenades, guns, munitions, and military equipment, were also seized in the raid, it said.
The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 45,400 Palestinians, over half of them women and children, and wounded more than 108,000 others, according to the health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The hospital has been hit multiple times over the past three months by Israeli troops waging an offensive in largely isolated northern Gaza against Hamas fighters it says have regrouped.
The health ministry said a strike on the hospital earlier this week killed five medical personnel.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was “appalled” by Friday’s raid, which it said put northern Gaza’s last major health facility “out of service”.
“The systematic dismantling of the health system and a siege for over 80 days… puts the lives of the 75,000 Palestinians remaining in the area at risk,” a statement said.
The Israeli military said in a statement: “The IDF will continue to act in accordance with international law regarding medical facilities, including those where Hamas has chosen to embed its military infrastructure and conduct terrorist activities in blatant violation of international law.”
Former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh has been cremated after a state funeral as politicians and the public mourned his death.
Widely regarded as the architect of the country’s economic reform programme, he died on Thursday aged 92.
His body was taken on Saturday morning to the headquarters of his Congress party in New Delhi, where party leaders and activists paid tribute to him and chanted: “Manmohan Singh lives forever.”
Former Indian PM Manmohan Singh pictured in 2014. File pic: AP
Abhishek Bishnoi, a party leader, said Mr Singh’s death was big loss for the country.
“He used to speak little, but his talent and his actions spoke louder than his words,” he said.
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Later, Mr Singh’s body was transported to a crematorium ground for his last rites as soldiers beat drums.
Government officials, politicians and family members paid their last respects to Mr Singh, whose casket was adorned with flowers and wrapped in the Indian flag.
Indian President Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who called Mr Singh one of the country’s “most distinguished leaders”, attended the funeral ceremony.
Gursharan Kaur (right), wife of Mr Singh, attends his funeral. Pic: AP
Mr Singh’s body was then transferred to a pyre as religious hymns played and he was cremated.
Authorities have declared a seven-day mourning period and cancelled all cultural and entertainment events during that time.
Mr Singh was prime minister for 10 years and leader of the Congress party in parliament’s upper house.
He was chosen to be prime minister in 2004 by Sonia Gandhi, the widow of assassinated former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Mr Singh was re-elected in 2009, but his second term was clouded by financial scandals.
This led to the Congress party’s crushing defeat in the 2014 national elections by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
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