Entire Families Among Dozens of Bodies Recovered After Israel's Gaza City Onslaught

Gaza's Civil Defense reported Friday that the Israel Defense Forces left the bodies of at least 60 Palestinians in their wake after withdrawing from Gaza City's Tal al-Hawa neighborhood, where victims of the IDF's recent onslaught were found in rubble, on streets, and "burned inside their homes."

Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for Civil Defense in Gaza, told the Associated Press that "entire families" appeared to have been killed by artillery fire and airstrikes in the enclave's largest city, which was almost entirely destroyed in the first months of Israel's bombardment late last year but where many people had returned to their homes among the ruins.

Al Jazeera journalist Mohammad Alsaafin noted on social media that Patient's Friends Hospital had repaired damage from Israel's bombardment and had restarted its operations just two weeks before the IDF ordered an evacuation of several Gaza City neighborhoods ahead of its attacks on the city.

"It's been destroyed again," he said.

"At least 60 bodies were counted," Basal said of the Tal al-Hawa area. "Some bodies were buried on the spot. Others were taken to nearby hospitals. Many bodies are still under the rubble. The Israeli forces are stationed nearby and the rescue efforts are interrupted regularly."

He added, "Most of those killed are families, women, and children. Some bodies were eaten by dogs."

Fares Afaneh, an emergency official in northern Gaza, told Al Jazeera that most of the bodies found in Tal al-Hawa were "decomposed due to the inability of ambulance crews to reach [them earlier]."

Rescue workers recovered the victims a day after at least 60 bodies were found throughout the city's Shuja'iyyah neighborhood, with many more believed to be under the rubble.

British union leader Howard Beckett said Western politicians including U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer—two of Israel's top supporters—are unlikely to speak out about the Gaza City communities that have been "obliterated" this week.

"They have given support for this racist genocide," said Beckett. "Arms embargo now."

Basal told the AP that many of those killed had left shelters in parts of the city that were under evacuation orders from Israel.

Staffers at al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza told humanitarian group ActionAid that they were treating an influx of patients from Gaza City "despite experiencing a critical lack of vital medical supplies, equipment, and fuel, which has forced them to postpone scheduled surgeries and rely on small generators to keep the facility running."

"The World Health Organization sent a small quantity of fuel a month ago which was sufficient [to keep the hospital running for one week only]," said Dr. Mohammed Salha, acting director of the hospital. "Now it has been more than a month that we haven't received fuel to operate the hospital... We hope that our partners from the World Health Organization and the United Nations organizations will [be able to] quickly supply the hospital with the fuel necessary for operation and provide the hospital with medical supplies and medicines so that we can keep providing our services to injured people."

"We do not know how long the [Israeli forces] will remain in Gaza City and the number of casualties we will receive at al-Awda Hospital," he added.

As Common Dreams reported on Tuesday, hospitals in Gaza City were forced to shut down this week as the IDF launched an offensive there, and medical staff transported sick and injured people to already overcrowded medical centers in northern Gaza.

"Hospitals in Gaza are facing overwhelming demand, as they scramble to treat people wounded in Israeli attacks—many of whom have catastrophic and life-changing injuries—as well as ever-growing numbers of patients who are dangerously sick after months of living in inhumane, overcrowded, and unsanitary conditions without enough to eat," said Riham Jafari, advocacy and communications coordinator at ActionAid Palestine. "At the same time, they are facing desperate shortages of vital medicines, equipment, and fuel, as well as food and water. More aid must be allowed into Gaza immediately so that hospital staff can continue their vital, life-saving work, and there must be a permanent cease-fire, now."

The casualties from the attacks on Gaza City were discovered as a senior Hamas official on Friday told Reuters that Israel is "stalling and wasting time" as the two sides work with mediators from the U.S. and Egypt to secure a cease-fire deal.

"Israel hasn't given a clear stance over [the] Hamas proposal," the official told Reuters, referring to a plan for a phased-in cease-fire with written guarantees from Israel that it will end the IDF's attacks in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Hamas has made demands that contradicted the current cease-fire framework, but did not specify what the demands were. Israeli officials also told Reuters on Thursday that "Netanyahu insists that Israel remains" along the Gaza-Egypt border.