The dead bodies of Palestinians have been “eaten by wild dogs” in the forecourt of the biggest hospital in Gaza, MPs have been told.
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) chief executive Melanie Ward gave testimony to the UK Parliament’s international development committee on Tuesday (November 14).
She described how staff at the al-Shifa hospital have been forced to dig mass graves as the morgue has been closed. Some 200 bodies have reportedly been buried there.
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(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Ms Ward said: “The intensive care unit has been bombed and shut down. The cardiovascular units and maternity units have also been bombed. Solar panels, water tanks and oxygen generators have been destroyed.
“Dozens of bodies are piled up in the hospital forecourt, decomposing and being eaten by wild dogs as the morgue has shut down – and nobody can move them for burial. Staff are now trying to bury them in mass graves. People have been left dead and dying because no health workers can safely reach them.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) described the hospital as “nearly a cemetery”. It has been surrounded by Israeli forces who say a Hamas command centre lies in rooms below it. The White House says it has intelligence to support this.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Hamas officials accused Israel of besieging the hospital. Israel said its forces have allowed exit routes so the people stuck inside can get out.
Speaking to the BBC, Dr Adnan al-Bursh – head of the hospital’s orthopaedic surgery department – said 200 bodies had been buried on hospital grounds. He said the stench was so awful that hospital staff couldn’t open windows.
This morning (Wednesday, November 15) Israeli forces announced they had entered the hospital and conducted a “targeted operation against Hamas” in a “specified” part of the complex.
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