After the ceasefire: a grim, ongoing search for loved ones
Two days after a fragile ceasefire, thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza returned to the ruins of their homes with a single, heart-wrenching task: to find the bodies of family members buried under collapsed buildings and streets of debris. The emotional toll is compounded by the scale of the destruction, with civil defense officials estimating around 10,000 missing and about 60 million tonnes of rubble to sift through.
The work of rescue teams—slower, harder, and essential
Rescue workers face a daunting landscape. Roads lie blocked, and heavy equipment is scarce. Crews must rely on pickaxes, sledgehammers, and sheer persistence to break through collapsed structures while remaining vigilant for unexploded ordnance. “At first, we are focusing on collecting the corpses lying in the streets to preserve what remains of them,” said Khaled al-Ayoubi, the civil defence chief for northern Gaza, underscoring the urgent, pragmatic priorities amid heartbreak.
The painstaking process means many bodies are recovered in fragments—shards of skulls, bits of bone, or scattered remains—while others may lie beneath more intact structures that resist simple entry. An efficient, respectful recovery hinges on heavy machinery, which authorities fear may take days or weeks to become widely available. Dr Mohammed al-Mugheer, a humanitarian official, estimates that with machinery, authorities could complete the bulk of recoveries within six months to a year—a timeline that families are emotionally unable to endure but must confront.
Personal losses intensify the call for closure
For families like Ghali Khadr’s, the search is not only a medical or logistical endeavour but a deeply personal vigil. Khadr spent two days sifting through the rubble of his parents’ Jabaliya home, finding only fragments that could be the last link to his father and mother. “My father, a retired ambulance driver, was known for his strong will and patience. He did not know fear and was always optimistic,” Khadr said, reflecting a grief that is both intimate and collective.
When Khadr laid the remains at a graveyard that had been destroyed in the fighting, he chose to inter his parents beside the few surviving graves. For many, this act represents more than burial; it is a desperate bid to restore a sense of normalcy and dignity to lives cut short.
Uncertainty, endurance, and the search for a final goodbye
The scale of the destruction has displaced whole communities, forcing families to live in exile and wait for even a single sign that their loved ones are truly gone from the rubble. The onset of a ceasefire offers a glimmer of hope that rescue teams can expand their reach, but it also exposes a painful gap: without heavy machinery and unbroken access to multi-storey buildings, many bodies remain trapped beneath collapsed shells of homes and schools.
Officials stress that the work is a race against time and conditions. Muqra, who is looking for his brother Sharif, described the heartbreak of not knowing: “We really need heavy machinery to search under the rubble, but these machines are unavailable.” In the absence of definitive answers, families cling to fragments of evidence—a piece of clothing, a personal item, or even a rumor that the missing person was last seen near a particular site—as a way to anchor hope.
Why the search matters beyond grief
For many Gaza residents, recovering bodies is a moral and cultural imperative. It honors those who did not survive and reinforces the belief that the deceased are not merely casualties but martyrs whose souls deserve remembrance. Civil defense workers, often working under the sun and amid the risk of further collapse, take pride in offering families a path to closure—an essential, if painful, form of healing after months of displacement and loss.
A path forward amid shattered streets
The coming days will determine how quickly heavy equipment can be deployed, how many sites can be safely accessed, and how many families can begin to grieve with certainty rather than ambiguity. For now, the residents of northern Gaza press on, keeping faith with the hope that each recovered fragment brings them closer to closure and the chance to lay their loved ones to rest in dignity.
