Gaza Rubble Crisis Leaves Thousands of Bodies Unrecovered

(MENAFN) About 8,000 Palestinian bodies are estimated to remain buried beneath the debris in the Gaza Strip, where less than 1% of the rubble has been cleared following Israel’s two-year genocidal war on the enclave, according to an Israeli media report citing a UN official.

A newspaper, referencing an unnamed official from the UN Development Programme, reported that the extremely slow rate of debris removal could extend the recovery operation to as long as seven years. The official also stated that thousands of bodies are still entombed under collapsed structures across Gaza, while families continue awaiting the retrieval and burial of their loved ones.

This evaluation draws on information provided by Palestinian civil defense authorities, who have repeatedly cautioned about critical shortages in equipment and operational capacity. These limitations are significantly hindering efforts to clear the extensive devastation spread across the territory.

Meanwhile, Israel has reportedly continued to violate the ceasefire agreement signed last October on a daily basis, resulting in the killing of 828 Palestinians and injuring 2,342 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The ceasefire was intended to conclude a two-year Israeli military campaign on Gaza that left more than 72,000 people dead and 172,000 wounded, while also destroying around 90% of civilian infrastructure across the enclave.

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