Gaza’s Civil Defense Crews Race against Time to Recover Thousands of Bodies trapped Under Rubble
GAZA CITY – As a temporary ceasefire continues, Gaza’s Civil Defense forces are engaged in the harrowing task of recovering an estimated 10,000 bodies from the wreckage of Israeli airstrikes, according to rescuers on the ground. The scale of the devastation, compounded by weeks of relentless bombardment, has created a crisis within a crisis, with teams struggling to locate and identify victims while simultaneously responding to ongoing emergencies.
The unprecedented number of casualties and the sheer volume of debris pose immense challenges. Rescue workers, often operating with limited equipment and facing constant risk, are receiving a relentless stream of calls from families desperate to find loved ones and retrieve remains for proper burial. The ongoing effort underscores the immense human cost of the conflict and the long-term trauma facing Gazan communities. The ceasefire offers a critical, though temporary, window to address this urgent need, but the task is expected to take months, even years, to complete.
“It was unbearable,” said rescue worker Khammash, speaking to The Intercept about the loss of his brother, who was a year younger. “My brother was not only my sibling – he was my closest freind… We shared everything, understood each other without speaking. We went everywhere together. That kind of loss never leaves you, and the separation is the hardest pain.”
The Civil Defense teams are responding to reports of smells, pleas for help from families, and collapsing structures. “Death surrounds us,” Khammash stated. “Maybe we are the next ones. We accept Allah’s plan, but still – inside us – we love life.”
Recent missions during the ceasefire have included the rescue of a woman trapped beneath a collapsed tower in the al-Rimal neighborhood. Rescuers located her by voice alone in pitch darkness, discovering she was directly beneath a rescuer’s foot. Another prolonged operation involved the recovery of Marah al-Haddad,a girl trapped for a month under rubble in the al-Daraj area.
“She was alive when we reached her,” Khammash recounted. “She had been breathing dust and explosives. My colleague Abdullah al-majdalawi and I kept calling, ‘Where are you, Marah?’ And she answered, ‘I’m here. I’m here.'”
He added, “When she saw us, hope came back to her face. To bring someone back from death – this is what keeps us going.” Khammash echoed a sentiment shared by many within the Civil Defense: a commitment to recovery driven by faith and a profound respect for life, even amidst overwhelming death and destruction.
