Israeli army left infants to die and decompose: Palestinian doctor

Israeli army left infants to die in Gaza's al-Nasr Children's Hospital, Palestinian doctor Mona Sahwil has said, recounting the “horrific crimes” committed by the Israeli army after it stormed medical facility.

“We were surprised that the occupation army left infants to die and their bodies to decompose without allowing anyone to save them,” she said

Sahwil, who was displaced from the northern to central Gaza as a result of the devastating Israeli war, said she was working as a pediatrician in the intensive care department at the al-Nasr Children’s Hospital when the “Israeli crime” occurred on Nov. 10.

The doctor, who currently works at the al-Aqsa Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah, said the Israeli forces “besieged al-Nasr Hospital that day, which posed a great danger to us.”

She told Anadolu that after the siege, the medical staff were forced to evacuate the hospital, and “coordination was made with international institutions to transfer the medical st aff and sick children to another hospital.”

“We prepared to go out with the children who were on ventilators, but the army entered the hospital and told us to leave them and that an international team would come and transfer them."

Communication with the hospital was then cut off, and the medical teams and personnel were dispersed, she added.

“After that, we were surprised when we saw pictures of children with decomposing bodies on their beds,” Sahwil said.

“No one took them from the hospital, they remained there until they died and their bodies decomposed,” she noted.

On Feb. 16, the spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf Al-Qudra, confirmed in a statement to Anadolu that five infants had died and that their decomposed bodies were found in the al-Nasr Hospital.

'Scattered small bones'

After the Israeli army withdrew from the al-Nasr neighborhood, the extent of the massive destruction inside the hospital, with the decomposition of the infants' bodies and the destruction left behind, horrific scenes emerged where small bones were scattered on the beds.

“Following the Israeli army’s withdrawal from the al-Nasr neighborhood, the bodies of children were found on hospital beds,” Director-General of the Government Media Office in Gaza Ismail Al-Thawabta told Anadolu.

“The Israeli occupation army committed a massacre against humanity at Al-Nasr Children's Hospital,” Thawabta said.

He explained that “the Israeli forces forced the doctors to leave the hospital at gunpoint.”

“After 20 days, the medical teams returned to find that the patient children had all died, and their bodies had decomposed, with worms coming out of them,” he added.

Thawabta held Israel, the American administration, and the international community “responsible for this crime.”