Jerusalem: Gaza's main hospital has been forced to bury scores of dead patients in a mass grave, its director said Tuesday, as US President Joe Biden pressed Israel to protect the complex trapped in fierce combat. Israeli forces were at the gates of the sprawling Al-Shifa hospital they say sits atop an underground Hamas command base, but the militants deny the charge and doctors say thousands of people are stranded inside in horrific conditions. Amid this, Israel army said it had captured parliament and other government insitutions run by Hamas in Gaza City, as its forces deepened their offensive in the Palestinian territory.
Military units "took over the Hamas parliament, the government building, the Hamas police headquarters and an engineering faculty that served as an institute for the production and development of weapons," the army said in a statement.
"There are bodies littered in the hospital complex and there is no longer electricity at the morgues," said Al-Shifa hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiyah, adding that 179 bodies had been interred so far.
"We were forced to bury them in a mass grave," he said, adding that seven babies and 29 intensive care patients were among those who had died after fuel for the hospital's generator ran out.
A witness said the smell of decomposing bodies was everywhere in the facility, but nighttime fighting and air strikes had been less intense compared to previous nights.
The United Nations believes that thousands, and perhaps more than 10,000 people -- patients, staff and displaced civilians -- may be inside and unable to escape because of fierce fighting nearby.
Israel says it is not targeting the hospital, but has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to the attacks of October 7, which killed an estimated 1,200 people, mostly civilians and resulted in 240 hostages being taken to Gaza.The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says Israel's relentless assault has killed 11,240 people, also mostly civilians, including thousands of children.Israel's military says 47 of its troops have been killed in Gaza.
Biden called on Israel to use "less intrusive action relative to the hospital", some of his most pointed comments on Israeli operations to date.
"The hospital must be protected," he told reporters, as international outrage builds over the death and suffering the war has inflicted on Gaza civilians.
