Gaza Civil Defense: 8,000 Bodies Under Rubble, Equipment Shortage Hinders Recovery
Gaza's Civil Defense warns of equipment shortages and calls for international support to recover thousands of bodies trapped under the rubble.
Translated by Qiyas from سرمد — Original source
The spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defense said on Sunday that approximately 8,000 bodies remain under the rubble of destroyed buildings, emphasizing that teams need dozens of excavators and necessary equipment to accelerate recovery operations.
The spokesperson urged the international community to pressure for the entry of emergency supplies and additional teams to support Civil Defense units, which continue their work amid a severe shortage of heavy machinery and resources.
According to a report published on October 8, quoting a Civil Defense spokesperson, “teams recovered around 1,000 bodies within a year since the ceasefire was declared, while thousands of remains remain under the rubble.”
In the latest announced operation, Palestinian families in the Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City on Saturday called for the recovery of the remains of 75 people, recently unearthed from under the rubble of destroyed buildings, after being inaccessible for years.
The difficulties of the work are not limited to a lack of machinery; they also include the risks posed by damaged buildings and unexploded ordnance, as well as the limited capacity of forensic services and the DNA testing required to identify the remains’ owners.
Amani Al-Na’oq, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza, warned in statements reported by media outlets that searching for, recovering, and identifying bodies could take years.
