Mass graves and body bags: al-Shifa hospital after Israel withdrew its forces

After Israeli forces pulled out of Gaza City’s vast al-Shifa hospital complex on 1 April, following their second raid there, stunned Palestinians who pored over the burnt-out ruins said it reeked of death.

During the past eight months of war, hospitals have come under repeated attack, with Israel claiming they are used as bases by Hamas; something the group denies.

But events at al-Shifa – once the biggest and best equipped medical facility in the Gaza Strip – have arguably been the most dramatic.

The two-week surprise raid, launched after Israel said Hamas had regrouped at the site, was described by the Israeli government as "precise and surgical".

Its spokesman, Avi Hyman, asserted that it had set "the gold standard of urban warfare". He said: “We took out over 200 terrorists. We apprehended over 900 terrorists with not a single civilian casualty.”