GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Civil Defense crews in the Gaza Strip have recovered the remains of 12 Palestinians from beneath the rubble of two homes destroyed by Israeli occupation forces during the genocidal war, highlighting the scale of devastation as thousands of bodies remain trapped beneath the ruins across Gaza.
Seven members of the Nabhan family recovered
Civil Defense crews in central Gaza recovered the remains of seven members of the Nabhan family from the Nuseirat refugee camp on Tuesday after completing search operations inside the family’s destroyed home.
Brig. Gen. Rami al-Aydi, director of Civil Defense in central Gaza, said crews completed their search of the Nabhan family home after recovering the remains of those who had been missing.
The teams will now move to another destroyed home belonging to the al-War family, where the bodies of eight Palestinians remain trapped beneath the rubble.
Five bodies recovered from Zeitoun rubble
In Gaza City, civil defense crews recovered the remains of five Palestinians from beneath the rubble of the Ashour family home in the Zeitoun neighborhood, south of the city, after it was destroyed by Israeli forces during the war.
Gaza’s Civil Defense said its crews will continue recovery operations on Wednesday at the destroyed Abu Zur family home near Al-Hurriya School in the Zeitoun area as part of ongoing efforts to reach bodies still buried beneath the rubble.
Thousands of bodies remain under the rubble
Search and recovery operations are continuing across the Gaza Strip. Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said on Saturday that more than 8,000 bodies remain beneath the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza.
The scale of the tragedy was further illustrated on Sunday morning when Palestinians in Gaza City held a funeral for the bodies and remains of around 100 Palestinians recovered by Civil Defense crews from heavily devastated areas.
Palestinians gathered in the Zeitoun neighborhood to bury the recovered remains. Local figures indicated that around 70 of those buried were children, underscoring the immense human toll of the war.
Major recovery operation underway
Gaza’s Civil Defense announced on Saturday the launch of a large-scale project to recover bodies from destroyed buildings, beginning with the Engineers Tower in the Nuseirat refugee camp, which was struck on November 2, 2023.
Basal said more than 350 people had been living in the six-story building. Previous operations recovered around 150 bodies, while crews have now begun working to retrieve the remains of more than 150 others are still trapped beneath the rubble.
As crews continue searching through the ruins of Gaza’s homes and buildings, recovering the dead is more than a rescue operation for Palestinian families. It is a final attempt to bring their loved ones home, give them a proper burial and end years of waiting for answers as Gaza’s rubble continues to conceal thousands of victims.
