The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that recovering the bodies could take years due to a lack of equipment, personnel and what it estimates to be 37 million tons of derelict factories littered with unexploded bombs and hazardous materials such as asbestos.
The length of time many have been dead also hinders the identification process. At the European Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, people searched for loved ones this week among remains brought to the hospital and lying outside on white sheets. In many cases, the only option was to search for shoes, clothes or other personal items.
“I believe that I recognize my son immediately, even if his face has no features and he is only a skeleton,” said Ali Ashour, a university professor of the 18-year-old Majow boy.
“I know him because I’m his father, and I know him better than a million people,” he said.
He said Ashur still hoped Majou might be captured, but he planned to search for the dead every day until he knew. “Whenever they come more, I will come,” he said. “And when I see my son, I will pick him up between the other bodies and take him away.”
Nisreen Shaaban was looking for her 16-year-old son, Motassem, who she said left his home in Beit Hanoun for 15 minutes and never returned.
“I opened every shroud here, looking for the clothes he wore, trying to smell his scent,” she said. She was surrounded by human remains. “I feel like I’m living in a cemetery,” she said. “It’s a city of horrors.”
The Civil Defense Agency estimates that nearly 3,000 people may have been displaced by the bombing, leaving some families without their families until the end of their search. But there is more than that who still needs to be restored.
“These people need to be found and honored,” said rescue worker Al-Shognobi. “This work is waiting for us. All we need is the equipment and we will do it.”
Mu’at al-Khatib and Amr Ahmad Tabash contributed to this report.
