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Palestinian Civil Defense teams recover 61 bodies from Shifa Hospital yard in Gaza

Bodies were buried during Israel’s months-long war; recovery efforts ongoing

Nour Abuaisha and Ikram Kouachi  |15.03.2025 - Update : 15.03.2025

    

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Palestinian Civil Defense teams continued efforts Saturday to retrieve the bodies of 61 Palestinians buried in the yard of Gaza’s Shifa Hospital during Israel’s months-long war.

The Gaza Health Ministry said the exhumation process began on March 13, 2025, as teams worked to recover remains for proper burial.

On the first day, Civil Defense workers retrieved 48 bodies, including 10 unidentified individuals. On the second day, they recovered 13 more bodies, three of which remain unidentified. Known bodies were returned to families, while others were sent to forensic authorities.

Authorities estimate around 160 bodies were buried in the hospital’s yard during the war, with several more days needed to complete the recovery process.

Shifa Hospital, once Gaza’s largest medical facility, served 460,000 people annually before the war, providing emergency care, surgeries, dialysis treatments, and maternal health services.

Israeli forces repeatedly stormed and destroyed Shifa Hospital throughout the war. Their first major raid occurred on Nov. 16, 2023, lasting 10 days. A second incursion on March 18, 2024, continued until April 1, during which Israeli troops demolished hospital sections, burned buildings, and carried out killings inside and around the facility, rendering it completely inoperable.

Munir Al-Barsh, Director-General of Gaza’s Health Ministry, told Anadolu in January 2025 that over 95% of the hospital’s buildings and equipment were destroyed during Israel’s genocidal war.

A ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal has been in effect since Jan. 19, halting Israel’s brutal assault, which killed over 48,500 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and left Gaza in ruins.

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