Palestinians have found dozens of bodies buried under rubble in Gaza and are searching for thousands more as the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continues for a second day.
Medical sources told Tel Aviv Tribune on Monday that the bodies of 97 Palestinians had been found in the destroyed town of Rafah in southern Gaza since the ceasefire came into effect the day before with the release of the three first captives held by Hamas and 90 Palestinians in Israeli prisons. .
Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 111,000, according to local health authorities.
But the Palestinian civil defense agency said it estimated there were 10,000 bodies under destroyed structures across the strip.
At least 2,840 bodies were melted down and there is no trace of them, said Mahmoud Basal, a spokesman for Palestinian civil emergency services in Gaza.
Meanwhile, many displaced residents returning to their neighborhoods found them almost unrecognizable due to the devastation caused by more than 15 months of war.
“(The level of destruction) was a great shock, and the number (of people) shocked is countless because of what happened to their homes. It’s destruction, total destruction,” Mohamed Gomaa, who lost his brother and nephew during the war, told Reuters news agency.
“It’s not like an earthquake or a flood, no no. What happened was a war of extermination.
Meanwhile, more than 630 humanitarian trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Sunday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Monday. At least 300 of those trucks headed to the north of the enclave, where the UN said famine threatened.
With a growing flow of aid to the Palestinian enclave, residents have flocked to markets, some welcoming lower prices and the presence of new food products like imported chocolates.
“Prices have fallen, the war is over and the passage is open to more goods,” Aya Mohammad-Zaki, a displaced woman from Gaza City sheltering in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, told Reuters .
Attention is also beginning to focus on the reconstruction of the coastal enclave, which the Israeli army demolished in retaliation for the attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023.
These assaults killed 1,139 people, of whom around 250 were captured in Gaza, according to Israeli counts.
A damage assessment released by the UN this month showed that clearing the more than 50 million tonnes of rubble left following Israeli bombing could take 21 years and cost up to $1.2 billion.
A U.N. report last year said rebuilding destroyed homes in Gaza could take at least until 2040, but could stretch over several decades. The debris is believed to be contaminated with asbestos, as some refugee camps hit during the war are known to have been built with the material.
A United Nations Development Program official said Sunday that development in Gaza has been set back 69 years because of the conflict.
Isolated incidents as ceasefire largely holds
Gaza residents and officials said Monday that, for the most part, the ceasefire appeared to be holding — although there had been incidents of violence.
Two Palestinian civilians, including a teenager, were killed by Israeli snipers in Rafah, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Eight Palestinians, including children, were also injured by Israeli fire in Rafah on Monday.
The Israeli army said it fired warning shots at people who approached soldiers deployed in accordance with the ceasefire agreement.
Meanwhile, Mohamad Elmasry, professor of media studies at the Doha Institute of Advanced Studies, said Israeli media are now increasingly focusing on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war on Gaza.
“They call it a spectacular failure,” he told Tel Aviv Tribune, stressing that Netanyahu had failed to keep his promise to eliminate Hamas.
“And now he has to watch on every television screen Hamas fighters in their fatigues escorting Israeli captives to their vehicles,” the academic added.
“He observes that Hamas will continue to govern Gaza and oversee the security situation, the humanitarian aid situation and all elements of this ceasefire. Hamas has not been eliminated, and that is very embarrassing for Netanyahu.”
