The Gigantic Task of Searching for Dead in Gaza
There are around 10,000 bodies that lie under the rubble and wreckage as a result of the mass bombs dropped by Israel on the Gaza Strip since 7 October, 2023.
Searching for bodies in the wreckage will not be easy. Today the Gaza Health Ministry has already started the gruelling process. There are literally thousands of bodies deeply buried deep under the debris of Gaza.
After more than a week since the ceasefire deal was signed in Sharm El Sheikh in a ceremony attended by US president Donald Trump and about 20 world leaders, the Palestinian civil defense teams say they only managed to uncover 136 bodies and the search is going on but at an excruciatingly difficult pace.
There are around 10,000 bodies that lie under the rubble and wreckage as a result of the mass bombs dropped by Israel on the Gaza Strip since 7 October, 2023.
The defense teams say they are finding the search to be much more difficult because of the thick cement, mortar and debris as the workers simply don’t have the required equipment to dig through. These heavy machinery are not allowed into the enclave because of the ongoing Israeli siege imposed since 2007.
The equipment that are available are rudimentary and can only go so far into the wreckage. As a result, the search is being hampered, moving in fits-and-starts and is likely to remain so until the proper machinery, tools and spare parts are allowed into Gaza and that could take months because, according to UNRWA, the amount of wreckage and debris is put at 61 million tons. The UN organization adds this would take 100 trucks working daily for the next 15 years to remove it.
This situation has also affected the delivery of Israeli human body remains who are still under the Gaza wreckage. Under Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war, Hamas needs to handover the 28 bodies it’s estimated to have in its underground tunnels. But this process is painfully slow. Up until now, it has only delivered 10 bodies and has consistently warned it would need more time to deliver the rest of the remains because of the massive obstacles it faces.
The organization says it is finding it difficult to find the whereabouts of the bodies hidden mainly in underground tunnels because of the mass bombings of the enclave. It is estimated Israel dropped 100,000 tons of explosives on the whole of Gaza and decimated its terrain with 500-, 1000- and 2000-pound bombs hurled on whole residential conurbations, infrastructure, roads, water plants and many others with pictures and images splashed all over the world media and internet.
The effect of the mass bombings has been a complete change in the geography of the enclave with gorges, mass holes, mounds of wreckage spluttered all over the horizon Gaza and replacing highrise buildings, schools, universities and homes.
As part of this innocuous process as well, some of the tunnels were destroyed as the bombs infilitrated deep into the underground and resulted in more human killing.
Around 67,000 people were slaughtered in the Israeli genocide that lasted just over two years. Experts suggest some of those that were guarding the Israeli bodies underground were killed in the bombing, making the search for the whereabouts of the bodies a grueling task and process.
The Palestinian civil defense workers say the problem is confounded by the fact is that they don’t have the precise tools and sensitive instruments – including ultraviolet light and rays to search for the texture of the bodies deep underground since Israel has also banned these from entering Gaza.
What this means is that finding the Israeli bodies face the same problem as those of the Palestinian men, women and children who continue to lie underneath the mass debris in the many parts of the 364-square kilometer enclave. At this rate, the digging up of these bodies is likely to take a very long time according to the UN estimates above which is related to the removal of the debris and wreckage.
All this is producing new saber-rattling by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist government who are threatening to reactivate their war machine. They believe Hamas is foot-dragging on delivering the rest of the bodies. Netanyahu plainly states that Hamas knows exactly where the bodies are located. He is refusing to comprehend the colossal destruction and damage the Israeli army inflicted on the enclave whilst changing the nomenclature of the Gaza region.
What this means is the Israeli government is using this to foot-drag on the implementation of the Trump plan that relates to opening up the crossing points around Gaza to deliver the badly-needed food-and-aid trucks to feed the starving people of the Gaza Strip.
He has already said the crucial Rafah Crossing will not be opened just yet until there is a movement on delivery of the rest of the Israeli bodies from Hamas, sparking anger from the Trump administration which believes the Gaza deal should be followed through.
However, while Netanyahu may drag, or go-slow, he is in a fix vis-avis the White House because US president Trump has become personally involved in the ceasefire, he wants it to stick as one of the major foreign policy achievements of his administration to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That is why, he is prepared to give “time-leeway” on finding the rest of the Israeli hostages because it is a crucial part of his 20-point plan, and which he truly believes he is saving Israel from the Netanyahu war-mongering machinations.
[Dr Asmar is an Amman-based writer who blogs for crossfirearabia.com.]
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