Dead and wounded strain Gaza hospitals as air strikes intensify

At the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in central Gaza, they are running out of material to cover the dead with.

The bodies are stacked in a courtyard outside, prayers are said, and relatives collapse to the floor wailing in grief.

Inside the hospital, doctors battle to patch up the walking wounded and save the gravely injured - but stores of medicine and supplies are dwindling by the day.

A BBC Arabic reporter witnessed a facility overwhelmed with casualties where doctors were racing to finish procedures before moving on to the next patient.

Some of the images which have emerged from the hospital on Sunday are too graphic to share. Children - including at least two babies - are among the dead.

Officials from the Hamas-controlled health ministry say more than 100 people were killed as Israel carried out air strikes overnight.

In response the Israeli military told the BBC that it had targeted nearby areas "based on intelligence information confirming the presence of a Hamas leader in the area adjacent to the hospital, who gave orders to fire towards Israel from that area".

On Sunday morning a stream of vehicles was seen carrying wounded people to the hospital.

"We've been here since the crack of dawn and the bodies have completely filled the hospital yard, on top of the bodies which are in refrigerators which are full, inside the hospital building and outside," a member of staff said.

"We don't have enough shrouds for the bodies because the numbers are huge. All bodies are arriving in parts, unattached and in pieces. We can't identify them because the bodies have been disfigured and crushed."

He described the situation as "unbearable", adding: "Despite everything we've witnessed before, these are scenes we've never seen."