short essay on animals in captivity

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How Does Captivity Affect Wild Animals?

Most experts agree it depends on the species, but much evidence shows large mammals suffer under even the best human care..

For much of the past year and a half, many of us felt like captives. Confined mostly within monotonous walls, unable to act out our full range of natural behavior, we suffered from stress and anxiety on a massive scale. In other words, says Bob Jacobs, a neuroscientist at Colorado College, the pandemic gave us a brief taste of life as lived by many animals.

Though anthropomorphism is always suspect, Jacobs observes that “some humans were quite frustrated by all that.” This is no surprise — we understand the strain of captivity as we experience it. But how do animals fare under the same circumstances? Putting aside the billions of domesticated livestock around the world, some 800,000 wild or captive-born animals reside in accredited American zoos and aquariums alone . Many people cherish these institutions, many abhor them. All want to know: Are the creatures inside happy?

Signs of Stress

Happiness is hard to judge empirically, but scientists do attempt to quantify welfare by measuring chronic stress, which can arise as a result of restricted movement, contact with humans and many other factors. The condition reveals itself through high concentrations of stress hormones in an animal's blood. These hormones, called glucocorticoids, have been correlated with everything from hair loss in polar bears to reproductive failure in black rhinos . 

That said, it’s difficult to say what a normal level of stress is for any given animal. An obvious baseline is the captive’s wild counterpart (which surely has its own troubles, from predation to starvation). But the problem, says Michael Romero, a biologist at Tufts University, “is that there’s just not enough data.” Given the challenge of measuring a wild animal’s stress — the requisite capture isn’t exactly calming — few such studies have been undertaken, especially on large animals.

Besides, hormones may be an imperfect gauge of how agitated an animal really feels. “Stress is so complicated,” Romero says. “It’s not as well characterized as people think.” So researchers can also look for its more visible side effects. Chronic stress weakens the immune system, for example, leading to higher disease rates in many animals. Opportunistic fungal infections are the leading cause of death in captive Humboldt penguins , and perhaps 40 percent of captive African elephants suffer from obesity, which in turn increases their risk of heart disease and arthritis.

Another sign of stress is decline in reproduction, which explains why it’s often difficult to get animals to breed in captivity. Libido and fertility plummet in cheetahs and white rhinos, to name two. (A related phenomenon may exist in humans, Romero notes: Some research suggests that stress, anxiety and depression can reduce fertility. ) 

Even when breeding does succeed, high infant mortality rates plague some species, and many animals that reach adulthood die far younger than they would in the wild. The trend is especially poignant in orcas — according to one study , they survive just 12 years on average in American zoos; males in the wild typically live 30 years, and females 50.

Big Brains, Big Needs

Our wild charges don’t all suffer so greatly. Even in the above species there seems to be some variability among individuals, and others seem quite comfortable in human custody. “Captive animals are often healthier, longer-lived and more fecund,” writes Georgia Mason , a behavioral biologist at the University of Ontario. “But for some species the opposite is true.” 

Romero emphasized the same point in a 2019 paper : the effect of captivity is, ultimately, “highly species-specific.” In many ways it depends on the complexity of each species’ brain and social structure. One decent rule of thumb is that the larger the animal, the worse it will adjust to captivity. Thus the elephant and the cetacean (whales, dolphins and porpoises) have become the poster children of the welfare movement for zoo animals. 

Jacobs, who studies the brains of elephants, cetaceans and other large mammals, has described the caging of these creatures as a form of “ neural cruelty .” He admits they are “not the easiest to study at the neural level” — you can’t cram a pachyderm into an MRI machine. But he isn’t bothered by this dearth of data. In its absence, he holds up evolutionary continuity: the idea that humans share certain basic features, to some degree, with all living organisms. “We accept that there’s a parallel between a dolphin’s flipper and the human hand, or the elephant’s foot and a primate’s foot,” Jacobs says. 

Likewise, if the brain structures that control stress in humans bear a deep resemblance to the same structures in zoo chimps — or elephants, or dolphins — then it stands to reason that the neurological response to captivity in those animals will be somewhat the same as our own. That, Jacobs says, is borne out by a half century of research into how impoverished environments alter the brains of species as varied as rats and primates.

Abnormal Behavior

Not all forms of captivity are equally impoverished, of course. Zookeepers often talk about “enrichment.” Besides meeting an animal’s basic material needs, they strive to make its enclosure engaging, to give it the space it needs to carry out its natural routines. Today’s American zoos generally represent a vast improvement over those of yesteryear. But animal advocates contend they will always fall short of at least the large animals’ needs. “No matter what zoos do,” Jacobs says, “they can’t provide them with an adequate, stimulating natural environment.”

If there is any doubt as to a captive animal’s wellbeing, even the uninformed zoogoer can detect what are perhaps the best clues: stereotypies. These repetitive, purposeless movements and sounds are the hallmark of a stressed animal. Elephants sway from side to side, orcas grind their teeth to pulp against concrete walls. Big cats and bears pace back and forth along the boundaries of their enclosures. One survey found that 80 percent of giraffes and okapis exhibit at least one stereotypic behavior. “Stress might be hard to measure,” Jacobs says, “but stereotypies are not hard to measure.” 

Proponents are quick to point out that zoos convert people into conservationists, and occasionally reintroduce endangered species to the wild (though critics question how effective they truly are on these fronts). Considering their potential to bolster the broader conservation movement, Romero suggests an ethical calculation might be in order. “Maybe sacrificing a few animals’ health is worth it,” he says.

Wherever these moral arguments lead, Jacobs argues that “the evidence is becoming overwhelming” — large mammals, or at least many of them, cannot prosper in confinement. The environmental writer Emma Marris concludes the same in Wild Souls: Freedom and Flourishing in the Non-Human World . “In many modern zoos, animals are well cared for, healthy and probably, for many species, content,” she writes, adding that zookeepers are not “mustache-twirling villains.” Nevertheless, by endlessly rocking and bobbing, by gnawing on bars and pulling their hair, “many animals clearly show us that they do not enjoy captivity.”

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• Environment

Essay On Animals In Captivity

Introduction:

This report will look at different species of animal’s life in captivity. Animals that are living in captivity lives are very different from the wild. Unfortunately, there are 600,000 different animals living in zoo’s all around the world and 1.1 million UK homes have exotic pets, etc. Birds, reptiles, and rodents. Many zoos and aquariums, roughly 75% are known to abuse the animals. This sadly will continue unless something happens.

Zoos and Aquariums:

Many captured animals are forced to do many activities involving human contact. Which causes animals to get anxiety and even suffer as 30% od aquariums and zoos make animals perform in front of people and 23% let humans hand feed the animals. Elephants are one of the biggest animals in captivity. Given the large frame of the elephant, they are forced into tiny areas with short chains, many calves (baby elephants) are taken away from their mother at a young age. 

In a zoo – South Lake Safari – over 500 animals died due to neglect and human error, this happens a lot at recognizable incident is the death of Harambe the Gorilla as a young boy fell into his enclosure, which resulted in the gorilla being shot to death, there are many cases of humans entering an animals enclosure by their own will and getting the animals shot when trying to save the person from death. Zoos can fix this issue by putting up safety measures and constantly checking that the safety measures and they are updated and fix them when needed. 

Primates as pets:

Humans can still have primates – such as lemurs, monkeys, and tarsiers - as pets, which is not banned. Primates, just like most animals need mental stimulation and they also need loads of space to roam around, also primates need other primates to socialize with – due to bring highly social animals. Humans also can catch measles and herpes from primates, also not to mention that primates mark their territory with their urine, which has a strong smell. Primates also need a specialist vet, which are hard to find and also very expensive. There are an estimated 5,000 primates living with humans. 

Circus animals:

Animals that perform in circus live in terrible conditions, they are often moving around, while staying in tight temporary housing during this they are overworked to make them act in front of large crowds, just like zoos and aquariums. During this, animals cannot socialize or have enough space to move around or show their instincts, which means they could manifest behavior or health issues. Thankfully, England and Wales have banned circuses under the Animals in Circuses Act 2019 (England) and Wales Bill for this came into action in December in 2020.

Circuses use captive bred animals, these animals like all animals they have their natural instincts meaning they are not tamed/ domesticated. This means their needs are not met, as big cats, such as lions and tigers are stuck in ‘beast wagons’ or chained and forced into cramped trucks, where they can’t see the sun, while animals such as camels and horses are either in animals’ tents or stuck behind fences to graze, or even they are tied up to graze. During this 1% of the day, they are forced to perform in front of many people then forced back into their horrible conditions. 

Animals’ sanctuary:

Animal sanctuaries are different from zoos, this is due to animal sanctuaries not breeding the animals that they save or sell these animals, these sanctuaries do not capture the animals from the wild, but thankfully instead they try to help and heal the animals while keeping them safe from hunters or their old owners. 

These animals are kept a lot different than zoos, as sanctuaries try to recreate the animals’ specific habitats, animals would also be in groups to socialize and protect each other. If the habitat has a pacing path worn into the ground is a sign that they aren’t a real animal sanctuary that takes care of their animals.  Habitats also sound have enrichments for the animals’ particular needs such as climbing poles for chimpanzees or large pools of water for bears to dive into, this helps the animals’ natural instincts come out- meaning they aren’t putting the enrichments in for human entertainment.

Animals in sanctuaries are thankfully safe from humans as humans cannot get near the animals to touch due to the animals being wild and dangerous. Humans also are advised to not take photos of the animals as it can scare them and endanger both human and animal. Some sanctuaries do take care of farm animals and also domesticated animals that do let humans get close willingly. Sanctuaries get the animals from people who can not take care of them -circuses and roadside zoos-, animals that live in the sanctuaries have most likely had a terrible start to their life and some sanctuaries will even tell you the animal’s story if asked. This also gets humans to learn about the dangerous animals have to face in places like laboratories, zoos, and circuses.

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Introduction: The Ethics of Captivity

• First Online: 27 June 2018

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• Thomas I. White 5  

Part of the book series: The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series ((PMAES))

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Of all the issues related to animal ethics discussed in this handbook, perhaps the most visible is captivity. This chapter begins with an overarching critique of captivity in Lori Gruen’s “Incarceration, Liberty and Dignity.” It proceeds to a fundamental challenge to the ethical defensibility of zoos in Liz Tyson’s “Speciesism and Zoos.” The final set of essays detail the harm produced by the captivity of nonhuman animals who are known to be intellectually, emotionally and socially sophisticated. Catherine Doyle’s “Elephants in Captivity” summarizes the critical discoveries about elephants that show why life in zoos and circuses is ethically indefensible. Rejecting the resistance of many marine mammal scientists to recognize “the overwhelming scientific evidence showing that captivity does not work for dolphins and whales,” Lori Marino’s “The Marine Mammal Captivity Issue” calls for all involved to cooperate in creating a “paradigm shift—a new way of relating to marine mammals.” This chapter concludes with Thomas White’s “Whales, Dolphins and Humans,” which argues that the fundamental problem regarding the captivity of cetaceans is that most marine mammal scientists and executives in the entertainment industry are blind to the ethical significance of the scientific facts already known.

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White, T.I. (2018). Introduction: The Ethics of Captivity. In: Linzey, A., Linzey, C. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Practical Animal Ethics. The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-36671-9_9

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Essay on Zoo for Students and Children

500 words essay on zoo.

The world is a huge place to see. It consists of so many living organisms that it is impossible to see each and every one of them. Especially for human beings, who are fascinated very much by animals. For the same reasons, zoos were created so that humans can interact better with animals.

In other words, a zoo is a facility that has animals, birds, and reptiles of all kinds. They are confined to space where they are given food and medical facilities. The government has given strict guidelines to maintain a zoo. This is done keeping in mind the animal’s safety. In addition, zoos are made breeding grounds for animals to protect their species.

Benefits of Zoo

Zoos were made to bring wildlife closer to humans. It gave humans a better and up-close view of them. This allows various researchers and scientists to note the behavioral pattern of the animals. It helps them in their studies and discover new things.

In addition, zoos are a great source of entertainment for kids. They love visiting zoos and interacting with animals. This helps them learn practical knowledge about the animal. It also gives them exposure to wildlife and widens their knowledge.

Furthermore, zoos give us easy access to rare animals. Had it not been for zoos, we would have never been able to see what some animals looked like. We enjoy their behavior and it also creates awareness about the extinction of the rare species.

Similarly, zoos are a safe breeding ground for animals. They ensure the animal breeds so they never go extinct. This helps in creating a good balance. Moreover, the zoos ensure the animals get all the nutrition in their bodies to lead a healthy life. This is beneficial as the animal may not get guaranteed meals in the forests.

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Disadvantages of Zoo

While the zoo is a great place for entertainment, it is also very exploitive. It takes advantage of the poor animals to make a profit off them. The zoos keep animals in very bad conditions. It takes unethical methods just to create revenue.

Furthermore, zoos are very unfair to animals. They take the animals out of their natural habitats just for the sake of human entertainment. Why would the animals be put into cages as humans want them to? They are voiceless creatures who are being forced to live in poor conditions. Imagine putting humans into cages so animals could come to see them. It sounds inhumane the other way around but not when we do the same to animals.

Most importantly, zoos do not take proper care of exotic animals. They bring them over in their facility despite knowing that they cannot survive in that climate. Some zoos do not take enough precautionary measures to keep the animals safe. This has resulted in so many deaths of animals that it seems cruel.

In short, though zoos are very helpful to humans and animals to an extent. They must be monitored constantly to ensure the animals are safe. The unethical zoos must be shut down at once to prevent any further loss of animals.

FAQs on Zoo

Q.1 List the advantages of Zoo

A.1 Zoos bring the wildlife close to humans. It helps researchers study them closely and discover new things. It protects rare species and provides a safe breeding ground for them as well.

Q.2 How are zoos harmful to animals?

A.2 Zoos are very harmful to animals. They take them out of their natural habitat for human entertainment. They make them stay in poor conditions due to which they also lose their life and get infections.

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Essay On Animals In Captivity

“ISIS data indicates that 82 percent of new mammals are now born in captivity, along with 64 percent of birds and a majority of reptile species. ” (ISIS). Animals in captivity is something that people have been around their whole lives. Animals in zoos for instance. Children take field trips to the zoo all the time. They walk around in groups looking at these animals in cages, taking pictures with them while they are behind bars. This is just something that humans have grown used to and are ok with. However, does that necessarily make it ok?

According to CAPS, Captive Animals’ Protection Society, “Wild animals in zoos suffer physically and mentally as their complex social, behavioural and physical needs cannot be met in unnatural man made environments. ” Physically, animals are not given enough space in zoos. Nothing will compare to the amount of roaming space animals would have in the wild vs. in their exhibits in zoos. According to Friends of Captive Animals, animals need sufficient space to allow for normal movement including running, swimming, or flying both horizontally and vertically according to the type of animal.

Another important factor that is often overlooked is the flooring underneath the animals’ feet. Although wire mesh and concrete are easier to clean, animals need flooring that encourages picking and digging, as they would do in the wild. Natural materials are recommended. Wire mesh and concrete are uncomfortable for the animal. An example of how important this is is shown in the following example: An animal that normally spends its day digging for food needs to be provided with a similar activity in captivity.

For example, food can be hidden in ways that this type of animal would have to find through digging. This type of animal should not be housed on a cement or wire mesh floor, but on wood chips or other material that allows it to engage in its natural digging activity. Friends of Captive Animals also suggests that, “Structures, natural features (shrubs, trees, logs) and other items should provide comfortable shelter from all weather conditions. These features should also allow the animal to escape from public view and, at times, from their cage mates.

The inability to find privacy when needed can lead to chronic stress for the animal. ” Even humans need to have time alone sometimes. Proper temperature, lighting, humidity, cleanliness, and ventilation is also very important for making an exhibit livable for wild animals. For example, nocturnal animals should not be displayed in the bright sunlight during the day. The shelter should also give the animal the option of shade or sun whenever it likes. Humans are the same way.

There are times in which humans wish to be cool and other times in which humans wish to be warm, so this should be easy to understand (FOCA). Another huge problem with zoos is the sanitation and nutritional issues. An animal’s diet of course depends on their species. However something that they all have in common is the need for sanitary water, just like humans. Also, just like humans, animals need a varied diet in sufficient quantities. “Many species have complex (and expensive) nutritional needs that make them unsuitable for housing by small zoo owners or private collectors” (FOCA).

Owners of small zoos need to realize which animals they can have that can be properly cared for according to that zoos’ budget. How the food is given to the animal that is very important. According to FOCA, “Food should be presented in a way that does not encourage aggression among cage-mates as they react to the stimulus of the food being offered. If more than one animal shares a cage, then food needs to be given in such a way as to minimize, ‘feeding stress’ or aggression between the cage mates as they compete for the food.

If possible, aggressive cage mates should be fed in different areas of the enclosure (this assumes the enclosure is big enough to allow for sufficient distance between the animals,) to reduce ‘feeding stress’. ” Mentally, animals suffer in zoos. They’re just plain bored. FOCA uses the word, “enrichment” to describe this topic. Enrichment means interesting activities that relieve boredom and stress. This is essential as signs of mental distress are often observed in confined animals that do not have enough variety and activity in their day.

The zoo keeper can provide ‘enrichment’ through enclosure structures, furnishings and play-objects that encourage natural activities. Different objects that the animals can use as toys can be placed in the enclosure, and should be changed from time to time, to provide an element of surprise and variety. Animal-management practices, such as how food is presented, can also provide enrichment. providing play-objects (toys) and offering food in interesting ways that help the animals cope with the stress of captivity (FOCA).

Dr Georgia Mason from University of Oxford speaking at the BA Festival of Science, stated: “Animals kept in captivity exhibit stereotypic behaviour that is fundamentally similar to that seen in human conditions of autism and schizophrenia… ” Many animals are known to show specific signs that indicate mental illness during their stays in zoos. “Without enrichment captive animals frequently experience a stress response similar to mental illness, which can cause animals to behave abnormally: for example, adopting repetitive, obsessive motions.

These behaviours are called ‘stereotypies’ and indicate that an animal is in distress. ‘Stereotypies’ are obsessive, repetitive movements that have no natural purpose. Pacing, rocking, bar-biting, and self mutilation through excessive chewing, licking, self-biting or feather plucking are examples of ‘stereotypies’. Stress, frustration, and boredom are believed to be major causes of this disturbed behaviour. These behaviours are signs that the animal is in distress” (FOCA).

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Home — Essay Samples — Environment — Zoo — Hostage Animals: The Reasons Behind Keeping Animals In Captivity

Hostage Animals: The Reasons Behind Keeping Animals in Captivity

• Categories: Animal Rights Animal Welfare Zoo

About this sample

Words: 1544 |

Published: Apr 8, 2022

Words: 1544 | Pages: 3 | 8 min read

• Bauchamp, T. L. (2011, October). Rights Theory and Animal Rights. Retrieves April 8, 2019, from http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com.cmich.idm.oclc.org/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195371963.001.0001/oxford-hb-9780195371963-e-8
• Bostock, S. S. (2003). Zoos and Animal Rights. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 13, (1), 114-116. doi:10.4324/9780203408810
• Jameson, D. (n.d.). Against Zoos. Retrieves April 7, 2019, from http://www.animal-rights-library.com/texts-m/jameson01.pdf
• Wickens-Drazilova, D. (2006). Zoo Animal Welfare. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 19, 27-36. doi:10.1007/s10806-00504380-2
• Wilson, S. D. (n.d.). Animals and Ethics. Retrieved April 8, 2019, from https://www.iep.utm.edu/anim-eth/

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Gaza City Dispatch

Israeli Army Withdraws From Major Gaza Hospital, Leaving Behind a Wasteland

Al-Shifa Hospital as seen from an Israeli military position at a private clinic outside the hospital on Sunday in Gaza City. Credit...

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By Patrick Kingsley

Photographs by Avishag Shaar-Yashuv

The journalists were among a small group of international reporters brought by the Israeli Army to Al-Shifa Hospital on Sunday. To join the tour, the journalists agreed to stay with the Israeli forces at all times and not to photograph the faces of certain commandos.

• April 2, 2024 Updated 11:05 a.m. ET

Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, once the fulcrum of Gaza’s health system and now an emblem of its destruction, stood in ruins on Sunday, as if a tsunami had surged through it followed by a tornado.

The emergency department was a tidy, off-white building until Israeli troops returned there in March. Two weeks later, it was missing most of its facade, scorched with soot, and punctured with hundreds of bullets and shells.

The eastern floors of the surgery department were left open to the breeze, the walls blown off and the equipment buried under mounds of debris. The bridge connecting the two buildings was no longer there, and the plaza between them — formerly a circular driveway wrapping around a gazebo — had been churned by Israeli armored vehicles into a wasteland of uprooted trees, upturned cars and a half-crushed ambulance.

The hospital was the largest in Gaza, one of its biggest employers and a shelter for thousands of Gazans during war. I had visited its wards in calmer times, meeting Palestinians wounded in a previous conflict and doctors battling Covid-19. When I returned this week, the place was disfigured almost beyond recognition after a 12-day battle between Israeli soldiers and Gazan gunmen and an earlier raid by the Israeli military.

During a two-hour visit, I saw no Palestinians, but the Israeli soldiers who brought me there said there were still gunmen inside one building and a group of patients and doctors in another. Occasionally, we heard short bursts of gunfire. When the soldiers brought us to a vantage point overlooking the hospital, they told us not to linger long in the window in case a sniper saw us.

The symbolism of this hellscape differs according to the beholder, amid a deep divergence about how the conflict should be reported and explained.

To the Israelis who brought me to Al-Shifa on Sunday, the carnage is the result of Hamas’s decision to turn a civilian institution into a military stronghold, leaving Israel with no option but to enter it by force: Exhibit A in what they see as a war of necessity that they did not start.

“We had no alternative,” said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, Israel’s chief military spokesman, who led the visit. “We wanted to leave those places functional, but what happened was Hamas and Islamic Jihad were barricading and firing at our forces from the beginning.”

To the Palestinians who returned to Al-Shifa on Monday, searching for dead bodies after the Israelis withdrew, it was the embodiment of Israel’s perceived disregard for civilian life and infrastructure in its pursuit of Hamas: Exhibit A in what they see as a genocide of Gazans.

“As you see, this is Al-Shifa hospital after it was invaded and destroyed by the Israeli occupation forces,” said Motasem Dalloul, a Palestinian journalist, in a self-filmed video he sent from the wreckage on Monday.

“Or what was once Al-Shifa Hospital,” added Mr. Dalloul.

When we met before the war, Mr. Dalloul said that he is not a Hamas member but speaks regularly to its leaders and cadres; he has also acted as an interpreter for its officials.

Walking further through the compound, Mr. Dalloul encountered another man who blamed Israel for the destruction. “This occupation will die, Netanyahu will die, America will die — no matter how much they bomb us,” the unnamed man shouted. “No matter how much they bomb us and destroy Al-Shifa, the occupation will die,” he repeated.

Analysts have said that Israel’s return to Al-Shifa, more than four months after it was first captured, represents a strategic failure: It is the result of Israel’s unwillingness to set in motion any transition of power to forces independent of Hamas, creating a vacuum that has allowed Hamas to regroup.

The Israeli soldiers at Al-Shifa on Sunday portrayed the raid as a success. In one swoop, they said, they had killed about 200 fighters and captured 500 more — the majority, they said, of the remaining militants in northern Gaza. Gazan officials said hundreds of civilians were killed, a charge denied by Israel, and The New York Times could not independently verify either account.

In any case, the soldiers’ departure, hours later, means it will be possible for Hamas to return once again, unimpeded, raising the chances that Israel could return for a third raid in the future.

The Israeli military first captured the hospital site during a raid in November, exposing and destroying a subterranean tunnel network that Israel said was a Hamas command center.

After withdrawing from most of the city in January, the military returned to the hospital in March because it said remnants of Hamas’s military wing had regrouped in Israel’s absence, according to the officers who were escorting the international journalists, including two from The New York Times, to the site on Sunday.

To join the tour, we agreed not to photograph the faces of certain commandos and to stay with the Israeli forces at all times, but otherwise agreed to no other restrictions.

Israel’s naval commando unit, Shayetet 13, swept into the hospital compound early on March 18. By Israel’s account, the destruction began after Hamas gunmen refused to surrender and started shooting at the Israeli forces, prompting them to return fire.

A spokesman for Hamas, Basem Naim, declined to comment on the claim that Hamas was operating inside the hospital but denied that its fighters were there; Hamas’s armed wing has said that it fired on Israeli forces in the vicinity of Al-Shifa, but stopped short of saying that it fought inside the compound.

The Israeli military said that one of the first men killed on March 18 was a security chief, Faiq Mabhouh, whose death was later mourned in a statement from Hamas. A map supplied by the Israeli military said there were at least 13 gunfights that broke out across different parts of the campus over the following two weeks, as the soldiers searched for holdouts hiding throughout the site.

The military said the damage to the emergency and surgery departments was so great because the gunmen had entrenched themselves inside those buildings, one of them inside an elevator shaft, forcing the Israeli commandos to fire repeatedly at their positions. The military said that it found several weapons caches hidden inside the hospital.

The military said the fighting was compounded by Gazan armed groups located outside the compound who also fired at Israeli soldiers, leading to gun battles around its perimeter and the killing of two Israeli soldiers outside the hospital. Hamas said on its social media platforms that its snipers and mortar teams had fired at Israeli forces in the vicinity of the hospital.

To support its claim of Hamas’s presence at the hospital, the Israeli military displayed digital copies of documents, branded with the logo of Hamas’s military wing, that it said were found at the site and which purported to document a meeting of the group’s militants inside the hospital. The Times could not verify the authenticity of the documents.

The Hamas-run authorities in Gaza have accused Israel of killing patients and displaced people sheltering at the hospital, as well detaining innocent people.

Yahia Al-Kayyali, a 58-year-old doctor, said he was detained by the Israeli Army during the raid while sheltering with his family at a building close to the hospital.

In a phone interview, Dr. Al-Kayyali said the soldiers forced him to strip, a common practice that Israel says is meant to ensure detainees do not conceal weapons, before beating him and his son, interrogating and blindfolding them, taking them to the roof and forcing them to sit on shattered glass for several hours.

They were later released after being made to walk south, he said.

“The soldiers treated us like animals,” he said.

The Israeli soldiers who escorted us on Sunday strongly denied any accusation of wrongdoing. They said they had evacuated more than half of the medics and patients to other health facilities, as well as allowing the vast majority of the 6,000 civilians who had sheltered at the hospital to move south. They said they had detained 900 people, 500 of whom they said were militants and about 400 others who were still being investigated. The numbers could not be independently verified.

“I’ve been here for 14 days,” said the Shayetet 13 commander, who asked to remain anonymous in line with military protocol. “It’s my soldiers. As far as I know, these accusations are a lie.”

According to both Israeli and Palestinian officials, more than 100 patients and medics were moved to a building on the western side of the compound, away from the worst of the fighting.

But there the narratives diverge. The Israeli military says that it did its best to provide food, water and medical care. The Gazan health ministry said in a statement that the remaining patients were left without enough medicine, clean water, food or sanitation, leaving some with septic wounds containing maggots.

“The situation as reported by many of the staff is horrific and inhumane,” the health ministry’s statement said.

Citing Palestinian medics, the World Health Organization said in a statement on Sunday that 21 patients had died since the raid began, and those remaining lacked diapers and bags for urine.

To Taysir al-Tanna, a surgeon who said he had worked for 25 years at Al-Shifa, the destruction of his hospital felt like a national tragedy.

He recounted by phone how the hospital — one of largest employers in both Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank — had formed “a central place in our country.”

“Now, it’s become a wasteland,” Dr. al-Tanna said. “Try to imagine what that feels like.”

Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting from Jerusalem and Iyad Abuhweila from Istanbul.

Patrick Kingsley is the Jerusalem bureau chief, covering Israel and the occupied territories. He has reported from more than 40 countries, written two books and previously covered migration and the Middle East for The Guardian. More about Patrick Kingsley

Our Coverage of the Israel-Hamas War

News and Analysis

Thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets to call for early elections to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu . Many of them believe he has put his political survival  ahead of the broader interests of the Israeli people.

Israeli soldiers withdrew from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City  after a two-week raid in which they killed around 200 Palestinians and arrested hundreds of others, the Israeli military said.

Netanyahu’s cabinet is divided about whether ultra-Orthodox Jews should retain their longstanding exemption from military service .

Internal Roil at TikTok: TikTok has been dogged for months by accusations that its app has shown a disproportionate amount of pro-Palestinian and antisemitic content to users. Some of the same tensions  have also played out inside the company.

Palestinian Detainees: Israel has imprisoned more than 9,000 Palestinians suspected of militant activity . Rights groups say that some have been abused or held without charges.

A Hostage’s Account: Amit Soussana, an Israeli lawyer, is the first former hostage to speak publicly about being sexually assaulted  during captivity in Gaza.

A Power Vacuum: Since the start of the war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has done little to address the power vacuum that would appear after Israeli forces leave Gaza. The risks of inaction are already apparent in Gaza City .

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