Gaza rescue forces calculate the scale of destruction

On the first full day of peace in Gaza on Monday, rescue workers and civilians began to take stock of the horrific scale of destruction in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza’s Civil Defense Agency – the strip’s main emergency response agency – said it feared more than 10,000 bodies remained buried under a vast sea of ​​rubble.

Spokesman Mahmoud Basal told the BBC they hope to find the dead within 100 days, but there may be delays due to a lack of bulldozers and other essential equipment.

New images from Gaza following Sunday’s ceasefire show scenes of utter devastation during 15 months of Israeli offensives, especially in the north of the enclave.

The United Nations previously estimated that 60% of structures across Gaza had been damaged or destroyed.

Although the sounds of bombing were replaced by celebrations as the ceasefire began on Sunday, the reality facing people across Gaza remains one of despair.

According to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), the war has left more than 2 million Gazans homeless, without income and completely dependent on food aid to survive.

That aid began flowing into Gaza shortly after Sunday’s ceasefire, and the United Nations said at least 630 trucks had entered the Strip before the end of the day.

A further 915 trucks entered the area, the United Nations said on Monday, the highest number since the start of the war 15 months ago.

Sam Rose, acting director of Unrwa, the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency in Gaza, said the aid supplies were just the first step in the challenge of bringing the strip back to life.

“We’re not just talking about food, health care, homes, roads, infrastructure, we also have individuals, families, communities that need to be rebuilt,” he said.

“The trauma they have gone through, the suffering, the loss, the grief, the humiliation and the cruelty they have endured over the last 16 months – this is going to be a very, very long road.”

In Israel, the families of three hostages freed in the first exchange spoke at a news conference in Tel Aviv on Monday night. Mandy Damari, mother of Emily Damari, a dual Israeli-British citizen, said Emily is “in good spirits” and “on the road to recovery” despite losing two fingers in the Hamas attack on the 7th. October 2023.

Meirav Leshem Gonen, Romi Gonen’s mother, said: “We got our Romi back, but all the families deserve the same end, both the living and the dead. Our hearts My heart goes out to the other families.”

Ahead of the press conference, Israeli authorities released new footage showing Damari, 28, Gonen, 24, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, tearfully greeting their mother on Sunday just minutes after being taken out of the hospital. Gaza.

If the first phase of the ceasefire holds, 30 more hostages will be released from Gaza over the next 40 days in exchange for about 1,800 Palestinians freed from Israeli prisons.

Palestinian health authorities estimate more than 46,900 people have been killed in Gaza over 15 months of war and more than 110,700 injured.

The ministry did not distinguish between civilians and combatants but said the majority of those killed were women and children – an assertion backed by the United Nations.

A British-led study published this month by medical journal The Lancet found the Health Ministry’s figures could underestimate the death toll by more than 40%.

The Gaza Civil Defense Authority said in a statement Monday that 48% of its personnel were killed, injured or detained in the conflict, and 85% of vehicles and 17 of 21 facilities has been damaged or destroyed.

Although the threat of air strikes has passed, for now the grim work continues for the remaining Civil Defense personnel. Photos shared with the BBC by members of the agency in northern Gaza on Monday show them carrying out haphazard work, including recovering dead babies and their remains. people in poor condition.

“In every street there are dead people. In every neighborhood there are people under buildings,” said Abdullah Al-Majdalawi, a 24-year-old Civil Defense employee in Gaza City.

“Even after the ceasefire, we received many calls from people saying come, my family is still buried under the rubble.”

Malaak Kasab, a 23-year-old graduate student displaced from Gaza City, told the BBC on Monday that members of her family were among those who had not been found.

“We lost a lot of family members and some are still under the destroyed buildings,” she said. “There were a lot of people under the rubble – everyone knew about this.”

She said Kasab’s family home in an apartment building was not completely destroyed but was severely damaged. “There are no doors, no windows, no water, no electricity, nothing. Not even wood to make a fire. It’s impossible to live.”

Travel remains dangerous for displaced Gazans as the Israeli military begins the process of withdrawing from densely populated areas of the Strip.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have warned people not to approach their personnel or facilities, nor to enter the buffer zone they created around the Gaza border and around the Netzarim corridor, which bisects Gaza separates the north from the south.

But many residents are eager to see what’s left of their homes sooner than they’re advised. Hatem Eliwah, a 42-year-old factory supervisor from Gaza City, said he was considering walking from his shelter in Khan Younis in the south.

“We have been waiting for this ceasefire like people waiting to enter paradise,” Eliwah said. “I lost two brothers and their families. I lost my cousins, my uncles. The only thing I still hope for is to go home.”

Both sides fear that the deal could collapse even before the first phase is complete in about six weeks, and Israel has stressed that it reserves the right to resume military action in Gaza at any time.

Speaking at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Monday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the agreement as a “glimmer of hope” and said its obligations must be met.

But Guterres warned of the worsening situation in the occupied West Bank, which has seen a major increase in attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages since the Israeli offensive. Hamas enters Israel on October 7, 2023.

“Senior Israeli officials openly talk about formally annexing all or part of the West Bank in the coming months,” Mr. Guterres said.

Muath Al-Khatib contributed to this report