Gaza rescuers exhume 48 bodies from Al-Shifa hospital

Gaza’s civil defence agency reported that its crews had exhumed 48 bodies on Thursday from the courtyard of Al-Shifa Hospital, once Gaza’s biggest medical facility but now largely in ruins following multiple Israeli assaults during the war.

The agency has carried out similar work in the past to return remains to their families if they can be identified, or failing that, to remove them and give them a proper burial elsewhere.

Rescuers handed over 38 bodies after they were identified by their relatives, who took them to be reinterred in other cemeteries, agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told journalists on Thursday.

“The other 10 exhumed bodies were handed over to the forensic department at the ministry of health for identification,” he said.

Bassal added that around 160 bodies remained buried within the hospital complex and that the process of exhumation would continue for several days.

AFP footage showed rescuers digging in parts of the courtyard and removing white bags reportedly containing human remains, which were then wrapped in blankets and carried away.

Gaza resident Mohammed Abu Asi, who identified the body of his brother, had come to the hospital to receive the remains.

“It’s like experiencing the war all over again. Recovering my brother’s body feels as though we are burying him today – the pain and the wound have reopened,” he told AFP.

Hospitals in Gaza, particularly Al-Shifa, have been repeatedly targeted by Israeli forces since the start of the war, following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Israel has accused Hamas of using medical facilities as command centres and to hold hostages seized during the group’s initial attack.

Gaza health workers have previously discovered bodies at Al-Shifa Hospital.

Last year, the United Nations Security Council expressed “deep concern” after reports of mass graves containing hundreds of bodies in or near hospitals in Gaza.