Gaza: Nearly 8,000 bodies remain buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings across the Gaza Strip, despite ongoing recovery operations, the territory’s Civil Defence has said.
In a statement issued on Thursday, February 12, Civil Defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said search and rescue teams are continuing their work under extremely challenging conditions. He noted that severe resource shortages and restricted access to many affected areas are significantly slowing recovery efforts, the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) reported.
The shortage of heavy machinery and specialised technical capacity continues to hamper efforts to retrieve victims, Basal said. More than 3,000 people remain missing, with no confirmed information on whether they are alive, dead or detained. He added that prolonged delays in clearing debris have led to the decomposition or disappearance of hundreds of bodies. Recovery operations have also been slowed by persistent safety threats and severe logistical challenges. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimates that Gaza is buried under at least 61 million tonnes of rubble, warning that roughly 15 per cent of the debris may carry a high risk of contamination from asbestos, industrial waste or heavy metals if not properly managed.
UNDP has said that nearly two-thirds of the destruction in Gaza took place during the first five months of the conflict, with additional damage continuing in the months leading up to the current ceasefire. The agency estimated that clearing the vast quantities of rubble could take up to seven years and would require substantial funding as part of wider reconstruction efforts.
On Monday, February 9, an investigation by Al Jazeera alleged widespread devastation in Gaza, citing more than 2,800 cases in which bodies were reported to have been “evaporated”. Since October 7, 2023, more than 72,000 people have been killed, and close to 90 per cent of Gaza’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to available assessments.