Gaza (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Nearly 21 months after the house was targeted, Gaza’s Civil Defense teams on Thursday evening completed search and recovery operations at the home of the Sheikh Ali family in central Gaza, successfully retrieving the bodies of seven Palestinians who were killed in an attack on the house on December 12, 2024.
The delayed recovery operation reveals part of the tragic reality resulting from Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, where the bodies of victims remain buried beneath the rubble of demolished homes and facilities. Rescue teams continue to face difficulties reaching many locations, while collapsed structures and vast accumulations of debris remain widespread.
The victims whose bodies were recovered by the Civil Defense teams were identified as Mahmoud Abdul Latif Mohammad al-Sheikh Ali, 47; Nawal Mahmoud Abdul Latif al-Sheikh Ali, 70; Abdul Latif Mohammad Mohammad al-Sheikh Ali, 70; 12-year-old Hassan Musa Hassan Salem; 13-year-old Ibtisam Hossam Suhail Matar; 8-year-old Hala Hossam Suhail Matar; and 25-year-old Abdul Rahman Ahmad Ibrahim al-Qassas.
Bodies Buried Under the Rubble
The house was targeted on December 12, 2024, at a time when the United Nations confirmed that dozens of Palestinians had been killed that day in attacks targeting homes, residential buildings, and shelters for displaced people across different parts of the Gaza Strip.
The victims’ bodies remained trapped beneath the rubble until Civil Defense teams were able to reach the site and recover them, bringing an end to a prolonged period of waiting for the families, who finally recovered the remains of their loved ones after they had spent months beneath the ruins of their home.
The operation comes as rescue teams continue to face major challenges in reaching victims buried under the rubble. Health authorities in Gaza have indicated that some victims remain beneath collapsed buildings and on roads, while ambulances and Civil Defense teams continue to face difficulties reaching them.
Thousands of Victims and Lasting Consequences
The recovery of the seven victims is part of a much broader scene left by Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip. According to the latest figures published by Gaza’s Ministry of Health in September 2026, 73,783 Palestinians have been killed and 174,738 others wounded since October 7, 2023. The ministry also reported that the number of recovery cases recorded since the start of the ceasefire had reached 831 as of September 12.
Ministry figures indicate that a number of victims remain beneath the rubble, while recovery operations continue as Civil Defense teams manage to reach sites that had previously been inaccessible or where operations could not be carried out.
Each new recovery operation brings more than a body out from beneath the rubble. It also brings to light the stories of families who have remained suspended between waiting and loss, restoring the identities and memories of the victims and revealing once again the scale of destruction left by the war in the Gaza Strip.
