The director of Gaza’s largest hospital reported on Tuesday that a total of 179 individuals, including infants and patients from the intensive care unit, had been interred in a “mass grave” within the hospital complex, international media reported.
Al-Shifa hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiyah told AFP, “We had no choice but to bury them in a mass grave,” revealing that the burials included seven infants and 29 intensive care patients due to the depletion of hospital fuel supplies.
He further explained the dire situation, stating, “Bodies are scattered across the hospital complex, and the morgues lack electricity as no fuel has entered Gaza since the Israeli bombardment on October 7.”
On Tuesday, two more individuals succumbed in the ICU, bringing the total ICU deaths to 29, as reported by Salmiyah. A journalist collaborating with AFP, present at the hospital, described the pervasive stench of decomposing bodies throughout the facility.
Despite the grim conditions, the journalist noted that the intensity of nighttime fighting and air strikes from Monday into Tuesday appeared somewhat diminished compared to previous nights. Israeli tanks were observed positioned at the entrances of Al-Shifa hospital.
