Gaza rescuers ‘finding only bones’ in the vast fields of debris
Civil Defence teams are trying to go through as many houses in as many areas as possible where people are still missing.
Yesterday, they said they were able to retrieve the bodies of 68 Palestinians. But there are at least 11,000 more people unaccounted for and believed to be trapped under the rubble.
Emergency teams don’t have the adequate heavy equipment required for their recovery efforts in the vast destruction from Israeli bombardment and have to rely on rudimentary tools.
In most cases, they are finding only bones or bodies that are unrecognisable. They bury them in areas near their targeted houses. This isn’t a matter of several months – many Palestinians have been trapped under the rubble for more than a year.
‘A few bones’: Gaza survivors search for what remains of dead loved ones
With a heavy heart, keen eyes and trembling hands, Abu Muhammed Ghaith meticulously searched through the thick nylon bags used as makeshift shrouds for those killed in Gaza.
Inside the morgue at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, he was hoping to find a trace of his missing son. Instead, he was met only with unidentified body parts and fragmented remains.
The sight left him collapsed on the ground, overwhelmed by grief and exhaustion.
Yet, he gathered his strength and continued searching for any trace of 17-year-old Muhammed, shifting his focus from bodies to personal items: a pair of sandals patched with yellow plastic, an orange sweater, a black jacket or tracksuit pants – anything that could belong to his son.
Search for bodies continues in Gaza City
Atef Jundiya searches for the graves and bodies of his father, brother and brother-in-law at Gaza City’s Shejaia cemetery, which was flattened by Israeli tanks and bulldozers
‘All I want is a grave for them,’ says Gaza father
Mahmoud Abu Dalfa’s wife and five children are among 35 of his extended family killed when an Israeli air strike hit their building in Gaza City in December 2023.
“My children are still under the rubble. I am trying to get them out … The civil defence came, they tried, but the destruction makes it difficult. We don’t have the equipment here to extract martyrs. We need excavators and a lot of technical tools,” said Abu Dalfa.
“My wife was killed along with all my five children – three daughters and two sons. I had triplets,” he said.
“I hope I can bring them out and make them a grave. That’s all I want from this entire world. I don’t want them to build me a house or give me anything else. All I want is a grave for them – to get them out and make them a grave.”
About 200 bodies recovered from Gaza debris as search goes on
As Gaza Palestinians return to their destroyed homes, the grisly search for dead family members continues. The civil defence agency and medical staff have recovered about 200 bodies since the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel came into effect on Sunday.
Mahmoud Basal, head of the service, said extraction operations have been challenged by the lack of earth-moving and heavy machinery, adding Israel has destroyed several of their vehicles and killed at least 100 of their staff.
Basal estimates the bodies of about 10,000 Palestinians killed in the war are yet to be found and buried.
A UN damage assessment released this month showed clearing more than 50 million tonnes of rubble left in the aftermath of Israel’s bombardment could take 21 years and cost up to $1.2bn.
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