Gaza’s hospital buries patients in mass grave

AFP | Jerusalem, Undefined

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Gaza’s main hospital has been forced to bury scores of dead patients in a mass grave, its director said Tuesday, as US President Joe Biden pressed Israel to protect the complex trapped in fierce combat.

“There are bodies littered in the hospital complex and there is no longer electricity at the morgues,” said Al-Shifa hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiyah, adding that 179 bodies had been interred so far.

“We were forced to bury them in a mass grave,” he said, adding that seven babies and 29 intensive care patients were among those who had died after fuel for the hospital’s generator ran out.

A witness said the smell of decomposing bodies was everywhere in the facility, but nighttime fighting and air strikes had been less intense compared to previous nights.

The United Nations believes that thousands, and perhaps more than 10,000 people -- patients, staff and displaced civilians -- may be inside and unable to escape because of fierce fighting nearby.

Biden called on Israel to use “less intrusive action relative to the hospital”, some of his most pointed comments on Israeli operations to date.

“The hospital must be protected,” he told reporters, as international outrage builds over the death and suffering the war has inflicted on Gaza civilians.