Pale faces filled with sorrow, dusty, tattered clothes, and a constant stream of tears. The situation is beyond belief for the survivors of the Israeli bombardment of their homes in the Gaza Strip.
“When will we be able to recover our sons, wives, children, and families from under the rubble?,” lamented Mahmoud al-Assar, a young man standing in front of a destroyed home that belongs to his relatives.
“It has been over a week, and their bodies are still buried under the debris of the house. It’s a shame; we want to bury them. It’s the least we can do to honor them in proper graves.”
“We managed to recover a few bodies from my uncle, Dr. Abdelrahman Al-Hur’s house, but a large number of my uncle Hajj Ziad Al-Hur’s family are still under the rubble,” al-Assar added.
“Most of them are women and children. Rescuing them from under the debris and giving them a proper burial has become a dream that everyone wishes for.”
‘Bahjat Loved the Land’
Raed al-Taweel told The Palestine Chronicle that the search for his family’s destroyed homes in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp, in the heart of the Gaza Strip, has concluded.
“Israel destroyed three of my family’s homes, including my sister’s house. Over 30 people were killed, and dozens were injured. The entire area was devastated,” he said.
“The search for the missing people under the rubble of my family’s homes began after four days of shelling, with only one machine allocated for Al-Nuseirat camp. We found all the members of my family killed, under their house, except for one person,” al-Taweel continued,
“The search for our loved ones under the rubble stopped, leaving our beloved and supportive young man, Bahjat, under the debris. We haven’t found any trace of him. Bahjat loved the land, and he defended it. We couldn’t find his body to give him a proper burial. The earth became narrow for him, so he departed to the sky. We will meet him in paradise.”
Standing in the rubble of his uncle’s family home, Hassan, a young man, watches an excavator as it begins to lift the debris and extract the bodies of his uncle’s family.
“We had to wait more than a week for a large machine to come and remove the rubble to retrieve and bury our loved ones. There is only one excavator in Al-Nuseirat camp, and the destruction is massive,” Hassan told The Palestine Chronicle.
The entire home of the Thabet family in the village of Al-Zawayda, in the heart of the Gaza Strip, was completely destroyed by Israel, leading to the killing of 16 people.
The remains of the bodies were extracted days after the house was targeted.
“We couldn’t extract the bodies of 16 martyrs, including our children and women. The equipment wasn’t available, and even if we had equipment, there was no fuel to operate it,” Mohammed Thabet told The Palestine Chronicle.
“We couldn’t feel any relief until we managed to extract all the bodies, which were dismembered. Our consciences found peace after we buried them in mass graves due to the scarcity of graves. However, we had one last duty towards them: to bury them and honor them in their graves. They are entitled to this.”
Children are Buried under Tons of Rubble
Mohammed Abu Aoun expressed his relief at the start of the retrieval process of his family members’ bodies, including his two children, Abdullah and Aya.
“Seven days have passed, and the nights were pitch dark, with a dim and faint sun. The heinous missiles rained down, destroying the neighborhood where my children lived in Al-Bureij camp,” Abu Aoun told us, adding:
“It turned our strong concrete houses into ashes and scattered pebbles, leaving dozens of innocent and pure souls under the crushed debris.”
“My son, Abdullah, and my daughter, Aya, await someone to lift these harsh tons off of them. Now that the search operation has started, we hope that the reunion is getting closer,” he continued.
The spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, Ashraf al-Qudra, announced that the ministry received reports of about 2,000 Palestinians under the rubble of destroyed homes, including more than 1,250 children.
Civil defense teams in Gaza are still attempting to search for them in the absence of the necessary search equipment.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Abdallah Aljamal is a Gaza-based journalist. He is a correspondent for The Palestine Chronicle in the Gaza Strip. His email is abdallahaljamal1987@gmail.com
The racism of the Israelis has led to an organization like Hamas. Look at the horrible suffering of the Palestinians in the West Bank: being spit at, stones thrown at them by Jewish settlers( recently arrived from Brooklyn) ; having to contend with an occupier who comes and bulldozes their homes, which their families have lived in for centuries.
The situation was bad enough but it was greatlyexcacerbated by the fascist Netanyahu, who proposed even MORE settlements in the West Bank! Hey-These Palestinians have been there for centuries: Israel has no right to take away their homes!!! And what was Bibiana doing when his parents en people were being attacked in October 7th? Playing cards?