Ghali Khadr spent 48 hours imploring his parents to evacuate to southern Gaza, cautioning them about the looming danger. Despite his persistent pleas, his father, known for his stubbornness, adamantly refused. Tragically, their dispute remained unresolved as an Israeli airstrike demolished his father’s residence, trapping his parents beneath the rubble.
Two days after the ceasefire declaration, Khadr revisited his parents’ demolished home to search for any remnants. Throughout the day, he meticulously combed through the debris, hoping to find traces of his loved ones. Regrettably, all he could recover were fragments of their skulls and hands.
Describing his father as a retired ambulance driver renowned for his resilience and optimism, Khadr, a 40-year-old resident of Jabaliya in northern Gaza, narrated the heart-wrenching ordeal.
Facing a daunting endeavor, like Khadr, numerous Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza following the ceasefire to search for relatives who perished in Israeli airstrikes weeks or months ago, buried beneath the wreckage.
The Gaza civil defense agency approximates that approximately 10,000 individuals are entombed under the ruins and collapsed structures. The cessation of hostilities has enabled the ambulance service to commence the search for the deceased, providing families with a semblance of closure.
Rescuers confront a monumental challenge with an estimated 60 million tons of rubble strewn across the region. Most thoroughfares are either obliterated or obstructed by debris, compelling civil defense workers to employ pickaxes and sledgehammers to penetrate the collapsed edifices cautiously. The debris is fraught with unexploded ordnance and bombs, exacerbating the dangerous conditions.
Khaled al-Ayoubi, the civil defense chief for northern Gaza, emphasized the immediate focus on retrieving bodies strewn on the streets to safeguard their remnants, particularly as stray dogs have been attacking the corpses. Despite the arduous efforts, only a fraction of the missing 10,000 individuals has been recovered so far, with the search in multistory buildings yet to commence.
Dr. Mohammed al-Mugheer, the director of humanitarian support and international cooperation at the Gaza civil defense agency, indicated that if Israel allows the entry of heavy machinery in the ensuing days, all the bodies could potentially be retrieved within six months to a year.
However, many residents in northern Gaza are unwilling to endure such a protracted wait. Consequently, they have begun returning to their devastated residences to independently search for their loved ones.
The anguish of not knowing the fate of their loved ones is profound for numerous families in northern Gaza. Enduring months of displacement, they remain in a state of uncertainty, yearning for closure and the opportunity to bid a final farewell to their departed kin.