Jerusalem: Israeli soldiers raiding a hospital in northern Gaza desecrated the bodies of dead patients with bulldozers, let a military dog maul a man in a wheelchair, and shot multiple doctors, according to allegations by staff and patients, media reports said.
The claims relate to an eight-day operation by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at the Kamal Adwan Hopsital last week, which the military alleges was being used as a command and control center by Hamas.
CNN also reviewed video evidence for some of the claims.
They paint a disturbing picture of how the IDF carried out the operation, as doctors were interrogated for their connections to Hamas and staff struggled to treat patients trapped inside.
The IDF said that Hamas had hid its infrastructure in and around civilian institutions in Gaza, such as hospitals, and that targeting them is essential as it works to eliminate Hamas from the Gaza.
However, the IDF operations are contentious, with humanitarian organisations saying that the medical facilities in Gaza are rendered unable to provide basic services.
Among the most serious allegations relating to the IDF’s operations at Kamal Adwan is that, as troops were leaving the hospital complex, they used bulldozers to dig up bodies that had recently been buried in makeshift graveyards in the hospital’s courtyard, CNN reported.
“The soldiers dug up the graves and dragged the bodies with bulldozers, then crushed the bodies with the bulldozers,” said the hospital’s head of pediatric services, Hossam Abu Safiya, in a phone interview on Saturday.
“I have never seen such a thing before,” CNN reported.
Videos and images he shared with CNN show decomposing human remains scattered across the hospital grounds.
During the temporary one week truce from November 24 to December 1, between Hamas and Israel, the Hamas released 105 hostages while 129 hostages still remain in Hamas captivity.
The Israelis believe that out of the remaining 129 hostages, at least 20 hostages have died.
There are thousands of Palestinians in Israeli jails who have been held without any trials and access to legal counsel.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club has said that Israeli forces have arrested more than 4,655 people in the occupied West Bank since October 7.
Israel launched a ground offensive inside Gaza on October 27 after Hamas attacked Israel in a surprise attack on October 7 in which 1200 Israelis were killed and over 200 were taken hostage.
Since the outbreak of hostilities between Hamas and Israel, over 20,000 Palestinians have been killed mostly being children and women while 52,286 Palestinians have been injured.
(IANS)
