Healthcare workers in northern Gaza extracted the first bodies from mass graves at Al-Shifa Hospital and its surroundings on Tuesday, after saying that Israeli forces killed hundreds of Palestinians and left their bodies to decompose during their two-week siege of the complex.

Mahmoud Bassal, spokesperson for civil defense in Gaza, said that at least 381 bodies have been recovered from around the complex since Israeli forces withdrew on April 1st, adding that the total number does not include people buried inside the hospital grounds.

Officials told CNN on Monday that many of the decomposed remains they found had been buried or found above ground, and Bassal said Israeli tanks crushed others to death, causing some of the dead to be completely disfigured and unidentifiable.

Witnesses and civilians trapped inside the hospital when it was raided said the nearby area “was full of bodies,” adding that "occupation forces plowed through these bodies and buried them in the ground."

Ahmed Alwa, a doctor at Al-Shifa Hospital, told CNN: “We are here to recover remnants of bodies found in the sand dunes that the Israeli occupation swept into a large pile.”

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X on Tuesday that some bodies were found thrown under dirt or plastic covers. He said in a video message: “Hospitals should never be militarized.”

This came as staff from the World Health Organization and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) arrived at Al-Shifa Hospital earlier this month, according to a UN report. The United Nations said Israeli authorities repeatedly prevented humanitarian teams from accessing the complex.

Jonathan Whittall, an official at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said in a video message posted on X on Saturday: "Al-Shifa has literally become a cemetery... Bodies are still in this yard.”

CNN contacted the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment.

The Israeli military confirmed its withdrawal from Al-Shifa on April 1st, saying that "hundreds of terrorists were killed or captured."

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said: "The terrorist base in Al-Shifa has been eliminated." CNN cannot independently verify the Israeli military’s statements.

Israel has claimed for years that Hamas fighters hide in mosques, hospitals, and other civilian sites to avoid Israeli attacks, and Hamas has repeatedly denied these allegations.

Israel launched its military attack on Gaza after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th, killing at least 1,200 people, including 36 children, and abducting more than 250 others.

The Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 33,360 Palestinians and injured 75,993 others, according to the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip.

Motasem Salah, a Ministry of Health official in Gaza leading recovery efforts, told CNN: “The smell of the dead is everywhere.”

"We are trying to identify the bodies of these civilians as their families await news about their loved ones - whether they are alive or missing."

Allegations of war crimes

After a two-week siege, the specialized facilities within the hospital complex became "completely out of service," according to Salah, the health official. He warned that Israeli bombing had crushed Gaza’s medical system, reducing resources allocated for rescue and resuscitation operations.

He added, “We do not have a pathology specialist, nor expertise in documenting occupation crimes.”

UN experts accused Israel of "depriving those most in need of healthcare" in a statement released on April 3rd.

The statement added that the world is witnessing the first genocide shown in real-time by its victims, which Israel has incomprehensibly justified as compliance with the laws of war. "It remains impossible to fully document the scale of these atrocities due to their magnitude and severity—and they clearly represent the most horrific attack on Gaza’s hospitals."

Targeting hospitals during wartime is prohibited under international law.

Palestinians search for their loved ones

A video clip from CNN from Al-Shifa on Monday showed huge damaged concrete blocks leaking from destroyed buildings. UN staff wearing white helmets climbed over layers of debris, while dozens of local workers used shovels to dig for bodies. Others carried decomposed remains wrapped in white shrouds. Palestinian children watched restlessly as the sound of Israeli planes buzzed overhead.

Gaza residents gathered at the hospital to search for their missing family members. Ghassan Riyad Qneita said his elderly father was among those found in the mass graves.

Qneita told CNN: “He was a civilian.” "What can we say? They took him from his home and killed him." CNN cannot independently verify Qneita’s father’s killing by Israeli forces.

The Israeli army raided his relatives’ house next to the complex and told them to flee south, leaving his father near the surgery department fence – where his body was found on Monday, he says.

“We lost track of him since then, and only found his body today … almost a week after their withdrawal. Until today, we were searching for him and only found him now.”

Another Palestinian woman at the hospital, Noha Sweilem, told CNN she was searching for her missing husband, whom she said Israeli forces detained during the raid.

She added: “We do not know their fate or my husband’s fate, whether they are… buried or detained.” "Tell us where our children are? Tell me where my husband is?”

Palestinians at Al-Shifa Hospital told CNN they want to hold a proper funeral for their loved ones, expressing regret over the disrespect they suffered due to their deaths. UN agencies have worked with the Ministry of Health in Gaza to provide dignified burial ceremonies for unidentified bodies found at Al-Shifa Hospital, according to a post on X on Tuesday.

Alwa, one of the doctors at Al-Shifa Hospital, said: "We want to recover the remains of these bodies and bury them properly." "Families want to know the fate of their loved ones, whether dead, detained, or missing."

Palestinian mother Sweilem wondered: Why were they detained? What crime did they commit? The only crime is that we are the Palestinian people.”