GAZA CITY, Palestine

At least 61 Palestinian bodies were retrieved on Friday after a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from an area southwest of Gaza City, four days after initiating a military operation there.

Mahmoud Basal, the Palestinian Civil Defense spokesman in Gaza, stated that “the Israeli army is retreating from the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, the industrial area, and the Patient Friend’s Hospital, extending to Route 8 on the southern outskirts of Tel al-Hawa."

Basal added that "Civil Defense teams discovered the remains of deceased individuals and completely incinerated residences in Tel al-Hawa and the industrial area."

"We retrieved charred bodies from a single family, and we continue to receive distress calls from the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood and the industrial area,” he added.

Medical sources at the Baptist Hospital told Anadolu that the bodies of 56 Palestinians were recovered from the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood and the industrial area.

According to Palestinian medical sources speaking to Anadolu, ambulance teams recovered the bodies of five Palestinians from inside the Patient Friend’s Hospital, located west of Gaza City, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the area.

Meanwhile, the government media office in Gaza said: “We have received reports of grave atrocities committed by the occupation forces in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood."

Eyewitnesses informed Anadolu's correspondent that hundreds of residential units in Tel al-Hawa neighborhood and the industrial area were either burned or completely destroyed by the Israeli army.

On Monday, the Israeli military declared the commencement of a ground operation in Gaza City, which includes targeting the headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

Israel has killed more than 38,300 Palestinians since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas. The military campaign has turned much of the enclave of 2.3 million people into ruins, leaving most civilians homeless and at risk of famine.

Israel is also accused of committing genocide in the besieged Palestinian enclave, and a case is continuing at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi