Aftermath of Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital raid is laid bare in harrowing photographs: Mothers weep and bodies are recovered after IDF troops withdraw and declare two-week operation 'complete'

The IDF has withdrawn from Gaza's main hospital after a two-week raid, leaving behind a swathe of destruction, according to witnesses.

Hundreds of people returned to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, and the surrounding area, after the withdrawal early on Monday, where they found bodies inside and outside the facility.

There was no immediate comment from the military, which has described the raid as one of the most successful operations of the bloodiest conflict between itself and Hamas in decades. 

The IDF said it killed at least 200 Hamas and other militant fighters, including senior operatives, and that it seized weapons, valuable intelligence and cash during the raid on the hospital. 

Gazan citizen Mohammed Mahdi, among the first to return, described a scene of 'total destruction'.

Hundreds of people returned to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, and the surrounding area, after the withdrawal early on Monday

The hospital has been the site of a major military operation conducted by the IDF

Palestinians found bodies inside and outside the facility

The IDF launched its raid two weeks ago, and left in the early hour of the morning

Israel has killed nearly 33,000 people, most of whom are civilians

He said several buildings had been burned down. He counted six bodies in the area, including two in the hospital courtyard.

Another resident, Yahia Abu Auf, said there were still patients, medical workers and displaced people sheltering inside the medical compound.

He said several patients had been taken to the nearby Al-Ahli Hospital, and that army bulldozers had ploughed over a makeshift cemetery inside the hospital compound.

'The situation is indescribable. The occupation destroyed all sense of life here,' he said. 

The health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said that, after heavy Israeli air strikes and tank fire, 'the scale of the destruction inside the complex and the buildings around it is very large'.

'Dozens of bodies, some of them decomposed, have been recovered from in and around the Al-Shifa medical complex,' the ministry said, adding that the hospital was now 'completely out of service'.

A doctor told AFP more than 20 bodies had been recovered, some crushed by withdrawing vehicles.

Less than a third of the Gaza Strip's 36 hospitals remain at least partially open, after Israel spent six months bombing vast swathes of the enclave.  

A man is seen standing next to medical equipment at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City

An inside view of the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza

A doctor told AFP more than 20 bodies had been recovered

Palestinians say Israeli troops forcibly evacuated homes near Al-Shifa Hospital in downtown Gaza City

The military had previously raided Al-Shifa, Gaza's largest hospital, in November, after saying Hamas maintained an elaborate command and control centre inside and beneath the compound

Israel has accused Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes and has raided several medical facilities.

Critics accuse the army of recklessly endangering civilians and of decimating a health sector already overwhelmed with wounded civilians. 

Palestinians say Israeli troops forcibly evacuated homes near Al-Shifa Hospital in downtown Gaza City and forced hundreds of residents to march south.

At least 21 patients have died since the raid began, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted late Sunday on X. 

The top UN official said over a hundred patients were still inside the compound, including four children and 28 critical patients. He also said there were no diapers, urine bags or water to clean wounds, and that many patients suffered from infected wounds and dehydration.

The military had previously raided Al-Shifa, Gaza's largest hospital, in November, after saying Hamas maintained an elaborate command and control centre inside and beneath the compound. 

At least 21 patients have died since the raid began, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said

A top UN official said over a hundred patients were still inside the compound, including four children and 28 critical patients

The UN said there were no diapers, urine bags or water to clean wounds, and that many patients suffered from infected wounds and dehydration

The hospital was left completely destroyed 

It revealed a tunnel running beneath the hospital that led to a few rooms, and shared footage it claimed showed Hamas militants using the hospital as cover. 

IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted a video to X that he said showed 'saboteurs' firing on IDF troops in the area.

The military released grainy aerial footage that it said shows people 'shooting towards our forces from Al-Shifa Hospital.'

A figure can be seen seemingly throwing something from a building, before the video abruptly blurs and unblurs with a tank in frame. MailOnline could not verify the claims that the footage showed people shooting.

The video then cuts to what appears to be footage taken from a ground vehicle, which shows a smoke plume rising to roughly three stories after seemingly going off in front of a tank.

The IDF says this part of the footage showed someone 'activating an explosive device towards our forces from inside Al-Shifa Medical Complex'.

But the smoke plume has an inexplicable white halo of light around it, and the tank doesn't appear to react to the purported explosion in any way.

Less than a third of the Gaza Strip's 36 hospitals remain at least partially open, after Israel spent six months bombing vast swathes of the enclave

Israel has accused Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes and has raided several medical facilities

Critics accuse the army of recklessly endangering civilians and of decimating a health sector already overwhelmed with war wounded

The footage then cuts to a shot of a gateway, with a tank and a group of apparently armed men.

The IDF circled what appeared to be either an explosion or a bullet causing a large chunk of a wall to fly off and said again it was evidence of someone 'shooting towards our forces inside Al-Shifa Medical Complex', though it is unclear who fired the shots in the video.

The tape then abruptly cuts to footage that was seemingly taken later that shows several apparently armed men running past the tank as either a bullet is shot or an explosion is set off.

The final shot in the tape is another aerial shot of a dense complex of buildings. The IDF highlights what appears to either be explosion being set off as several people run away from in.

The IDF then highlights another apparent explosion, though it is unclear who caused this to happen.

The war began on October 7 when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage.

Israel responded with an air, land and sea offensive that has killed at least 32,782 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. 

The Hamas-run ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children have made up around two-thirds of those killed.

The Israeli military says it has killed over 13,000 Hamas fighters, and blames the civilian death toll on Palestinian militants because they fight in dense residential areas.

The war has displaced most of the territory's population and driven a third of its residents to the brink of famine. Northern Gaza, where Al-Shifa is located, has suffered vast destruction and has been largely isolated since October, leading to widespread hunger that the UN has warned with soon turn into a devastating famine. 

Troops are carrying out a 'precise operation' following intelligence that senior Hamas officials were using the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City as a command centre to plan and carry out terror attacks, the IDF said in a statement

A figure can be seen seemingly throwing something from a building, before the video abruptly blurs and unblurs with a tank in frame

The smoke plume has an inexplicable white halo of light around it, and the tank doesn't appear to react to the purported explosion in any way

Israel said late last year that it had largely dismantled Hamas in northern Gaza and withdrew thousands of troops. But it has battled militants there on a number of occasions since then, and the two weeks of heavy fighting around AL-Shifa highlighted the staying power of the armed groups.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep up the offensive until Hamas is destroyed and all of the hostages are freed. He says Israel will soon expand ground operations to the southern city of Rafah, where some 1.4 million people - more than half of Gaza's population - have sought refuge.

But he faces mounting pressure from Israelis who blame him for the security failures of October 7 and from some families of the hostages who blame him for the failure to reach a deal despite several weeks of talks mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.

Hamas and other militants are still believed to be holding some 100 hostages and the remains of 30 others, after freeing most of the rest during a cease-fire last November in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Tens of thousands of Israelis thronged central Jerusalem on Sunday in the largest anti-government protest since the country went to war in October. 

Deep divisions over Netanayahu's leadership long predate the war, which for now still enjoys strong public support.