Nour Abuaisha, Ikram Kouachi
14 February 2025•Update: 14 February 2025
GAZA CITY, Palestine
The Civil Defense Department in Gaza reported on Friday that its teams continue to recover the bodies of Palestinians killed by Israel during over 15 months of mass killings using manual tools and without personal protective equipment.
Raed al-Dahshan, a spokesperson for the department, told Anadolu that the lack of proper equipment hinders recovery efforts making it difficult to retrieve bodies from the rubble of destroyed homes.
"We are trying to break through the concrete surfaces piled on top of each other to reach the bodies of Palestinians buried beneath them using 'manual hammers'," he explained.
Since the ceasefire took effect on Jan. 19, Civil Defense teams along with local Palestinians have retrieved hundreds of bodies from the streets and rubble, some found under collapsed homes near the surface.
However, the absence of equipment to lift the heavy rubble is straining the efforts, as teams often find themselves unable to reach the bodies in time.
"We had a painful experience on Thursday," Dahshan said. "We went to retrieve the bodies of martyrs from under the rubble of a destroyed house, but despite repeated attempts with manual tools, we were unsuccessful."
He added that the recovery teams often find decomposed bodies and are forced to handle them without protective gear leaving them exposed to disease or injury.
The Civil Defense spokesperson called for the "urgent entry of heavy machinery and protective gear to facilitate faster retrieval and proper burial of the martyrs."
The Palestinian Hamas movement has also accused Israel of violating the humanitarian protocol of the ceasefire agreement, particularly in preventing the entry of essential humanitarian aid into Gaza.
As a result of Israeli breaches, Hamas announced on Monday that it would freeze the planned release of Israeli captives scheduled for Saturday until Israel halts its violations and complies with the ceasefire agreement retroactively.
Efforts by mediators from Egypt and Qatar have been underway to address the issues and fill the gaps in the agreement with Hamas describing the negotiations as "positive" in a statement on Thursday.
The UN humanitarian office reported that 763 trucks entered Gaza on Thursday, although it did not provide further details or confirmation from Gaza authorities.
The ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement has been in place in Gaza since Jan. 19, pausing the Israeli war that has killed more than 48,200 people, mostly women and children, and left the Palestinian enclave in ruins.
