Turkish experts to help find bodies in Gaza amid Israel’s deadline
Turkiye has deployed dozens of disaster relief specialists to help search for bodies under the mountains of rubble in Gaza.
Eighty-one members of Turkiye’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), who are experienced in earthquake response, will support the search and rescue efforts in the enclave, according to Turkish media.
Israel gave Hamas until next Tuesday to hand over all the bodies of the deceased captives in Gaza, despite reports of understanding on both the Israeli and American sides that the search for bodies could take weeks, even months.
The Turkish team will support the teams working to meet the deadline, reports said.
Except Israel won't allow them in.
Israel not cooperating regarding search for captive remains, Rafah crossing’s opening
The Israeli government is holding its ground, accusing Hamas of knowing where the captives’ bodies are, of refusing or procrastinating in retrieving those bodies, and that fuels the anger and the pressure domestically.
But on the other hand, everybody knew that this was going to be a difficult task. In fact, when Israeli soldiers were detonating tonnes of explosives to level entire neighbourhoods and communities, there were warnings that this was going to complicate the search for the bodies of Israeli captives, and that’s exactly what you see.
Israel is also not cooperating with countries that are lending help to possibly look for those remains. Turkiye, for example, was ready to send 81 experts in the retrieval of bodies, and Israel has not allowed it to enter. It has also not allowed it to provide equipment that could possibly facilitate that.
Meanwhile, everybody is ready for the Rafah crossing to open, except Israel.
The EU monitoring force is ready, the Palestinian Authority is ready to assume responsibility for passport control and the Egyptians are also ready. In addition to the goods that are sorely needed, 170,000 Palestinians are injured. Thousands of them require urgent medical attention outside of Gaza. Their evacuation can only happen through the Rafah crossing.
Israel’s blocking of heavy machinery complicates ability to clear rubble, find bodies
There is a clear disconnect between what the Israeli government at large is demanding from an area that has been reduced to rubble [and] has been under a complete and suffocating blockade for the past two years.
With [heavy equipment and machinery] being blocked deliberately by the Israeli military, Israel is creating a challenge for the residents of Gaza who are experienced and have the expertise to search and to dig out bodies from under the rubble.
It’s not just the bodies of deceased [Israeli] captives under the rubble; it is the thousands of Palestinian bodies buried and missing and trapped under tonnes and tonnes of rubble and debris across the Gaza Strip.
The challenge we see visibly here on the ground [is that] some of the available bulldozers are not in great shape. They have been damaged. They have been running on bad-quality fuel for the past months, clearing some of the garbage in the streets or some of the rubble-filled roads.
But at this moment, the need [is] for better equipment and high-quality equipment and larger trucks and bulldozers to move the rubble and also to dig out bodies of Palestinians missing and trapped … and bodies of captives that the Israeli military now is demanding and conditioning the sustainability of the ceasefire [on].
The challenge on the ground is quite immense. It’s not [with] magic that these bodies are going to appear and be returned; the work is massive on the ground and requires intervention and better equipment to be done properly.
