Families in Gaza search for the remains of their loved ones

After thousands of buildings were destroyed in the Gaza Strip during the war, local teams and civil defense personnel continue to remove rubble and search for the remains of missing persons believed to still be buried under the debris of homes destroyed by Israeli airstrikes. Those working on this task confirm that the passage of time, coupled with a severe shortage of heavy equipment, has made the search and recovery operations increasingly difficult and complex.

In one neighborhood of Gaza City, a heavy machine continues to remove the rubble of a war-damaged house, while civil defense personnel and local teams continue digging and combing through the debris in search of the remains of victims believed to have been buried under the rubble for more than two years.

Asaad Shreim, a member of one of the local teams involved in searching for the missing under the rubble, says: “This building was believed to contain the remains of 44 victims. So far, we have only been able to recover 13 of them, while residents and civil defense teams managed to recover the majority in the first hours after the bombing.” Search and recovery operations continue with limited resources, as the United Nations confirms that removing millions of tons of rubble is hampered by restrictions on the entry of heavy equipment, as well as the dangers posed by unexploded ordnance scattered among the debris, slowing down the process of reaching and recovering victims’ remains.

The loss of loved ones extends to a long wait to recover their remains and bury them. With each recovery operation, the pain of loss is renewed, and the challenges of identifying the victims become more apparent.

The United Nations indicates that thousands of people are still missing, and many are believed to remain buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings. As time passes, the process of identifying remains becomes increasingly complex due to the natural decomposition of bodies, coupled with the limited capabilities of forensic science8 and DNA testing, prolonging the suffering of families still waiting to learn the fate of their loved ones.