Israel Leaves Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital In Total Destruction After Two Week Siege

Hello and welcome to a special edition of the Almost newsletter, a new weekly email to help you stay updated on and make sense of the latest in Israel’s war on Gaza.

After 14 days of besieging and attacking Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, Israeli forces have finally withdrawn, leaving it in total destruction and completely burned.

Photos of the aftermath on Monday April 1 showed bodies scattered in and around the remains of the hospital.

Some of the bodies appeared to have their hands and feet tied while others had been crushed by tanks or bulldozers.

Medical crews found at least 300 bodies, many of them decomposed, according to the Palestinian ministry of health.

Some 3,000 Palestinians including patients, civilians and medical staff had been sheltering inside Al-Shifa, which used to be Gaza’s biggest hospital but is now out of service.

The Israeli military had already raided Al-Shifa in November, claiming that it was being used as an “operational command center” by Hamas.

However, four months later, it still has failed to provide concrete evidence to support its claim.

On March 18, the Israeli military issued a statement saying it was performing a “precise operation” at Al-Shifa, claiming that Hamas had “regrouped” inside and was “using it to command attacks against Israel”.

Israeli forces then stormed the hospital with tanks and guns, arresting and killing hundreds of people.

Photos and videos on social media showed Israeli forces blindfolded and kidnapped dozens of civilians, including doctors and nurses.

Human rights group Euro-Med Monitor said on March 27 that Israeli forces had executed 13 children, aged between 4 and 16, by directly shooting them in and near Al-Shifa during the siege.

Several Palestinian outlets reported that Dr. Mohammad Al-Nunu was killed for refusing to leave his patients and the injured behind.

Israeli forces also arrested several journalists covering its attack, with an unknown number still missing.

Euro-Med Monitor also documented several incidents of the Israeli military using Palestinian civilians as human shields to protect its forces.

Israel’s military said on April 1 that the 200 Palestinians it killed were militants and that it had arrested 900 suspected militants.

What’s Been Happening In Gaza

• Leaked drone footage has shown Israel bombing and killing four unarmed civilians in Gaza.
• Guyana blasted the US for proposing a UN resolution on Gaza without demanding a ceasefire.
• The United Nations Security Council finally passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for two weeks.
• An airdropped aid package damaged a building in Gaza, showing how dangerous and inefficient airdrops are.
• And 12 people have died in Gaza after they drowned trying to get airdropped aid that fell in the sea.

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