Palestinians are digging a mass grave in the biggest hospital in Gaza to bury the bodies of patients who died inside the health facility surrounded by Israeli forces.

Israeli forces on Tuesday kept surrounding al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, where 650 patients and 5,000-7,000 other displaced civilians are trapped inside the hospital grounds.

The site has been under constant fire from Israeli snipers and drones over the past few weeks.

In recent days, at least 40 patients have died, including three premature babies whose incubators were shut down when power went out.

Ashraf Al-Qidra, Gaza’s health ministry spokesman said there were about 100 bodies decomposing inside and no way to get them out.

Gaza medical facilities are in desperate need of life-saving equipment as well as fuel for their electric generators. One of the hardest-hit medical facilities is Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

The Israeli military has been encircling it with armored vehicles for the past several days under the pretext that Palestinian fighters are present around the hospital. The Hamas resistance movement has, however, denied the Israeli claim.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said in a report that all but one of the hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip, are out of service due to the lack of power and medical supplies.

"All but one of the hospitals in Gaza City and northern Gaza are reportedly out of service, as of 13 November, due to the lack of power, medical consumables, oxygen, food and water, compounded by bombardments and fighting in their vicinities," the report reads. 

According to the UNRWA, "Al Ahli Hospital, in Gaza City, which currently accommodates over 500 patients, is reportedly the sole medical facility able to receive patients, amid increasing shortages and challenges."

On November 10, World Health Organization (WHO) Spokesperson Margaret Harris said that 20 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals were currently non-operational.

The Palestinian health ministry has now warned that all hospitals in the Gaza Strip will be dysfunctional within the next 48 hours unless they receive urgent medical aid.