300 Bodies Found at Al Shifa Hospital After Israeli Troops Withdraw

JAKARTA - At least 300 bodies have been recovered so far at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Palestine, following the withdrawal of the Israeli military from the medical complex on Monday, according to the Gaza Civil Defense.

"All the people who contacted us to ask for rescue have previously died around the Shifa Complex," Gaza Civil Defense said in a statement on Monday, reported by CNN, April 1.

The organization further said that it was difficult to determine the exact number of people killed because Israeli forces buried bodies in and around the Al Shifa compound, and bulldozed nearby roads.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) withdrew from Al Shifa Hospital on Monday after a 14-day siege of the facility. The Israeli military has repeatedly said that the Al-Shifa compound is used by armed militants.

Israel said its operations in and around the hospital were a "proper" anti-terror mission, saying it had done its best to avoid harm to civilians.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said more than 200 militants had died in hospitals.

Meanwhile, in a briefing Monday, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said 900 suspected militants had been detained in the two-week operation. More than 500 militants have been identified as members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Hagari added, adding that some of those detained were "commanders and important people."

He claims Hamas and PIJ are starting to regroup in the northern part of the Gaza Strip and are using Al-Shifa as a base to rebuild their strength.