Gaza Al-Shifa hospital director says 179 people buried in 'mass grave' in compound

The director of Gaza's biggest hospital said on Tuesday that 179 people, including babies and patients who died in the intensive care unit, had been buried in a "mass grave" at the complex.

"We were forced to bury them in a mass grave," said Al-Shifa hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiyah, adding that seven babies and 29 intensive care patients were among those buried after the hospital's fuel supplies ran out.

On the other hand, another 200,000 people have fled northern Gaza since Nov. 5, the UN humanitarian office said on Tuesday, as Israeli ground forces battle Hamas around hospitals where patients, newborns and medics are stranded with no electricity and dwindling supplies.

The humanitarian office, known as OCHA, says only one hospital in the north is capable of receiving patients.

All the others are no longer able to function and mostly serve as shelters from the fighting, including Gaza’s largest, Shifa, which is surrounded by Israeli troops and where 36 babies are at risk of dying because there is no power for incubators.