GAZA, (PIC)
Under the rubble of the destroyed homes, and in the streets and lands witnessing the incursions of the Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip, thousands of bodies of the missing martyrs narrate the details of an ongoing genocide for the ninth month.
Although seven months have passed since the martyrdom of members of her family, the Palestinian Maryam Imad (19 years old) has not been able to retrieve their bodies to bury them, despite the strenuous efforts made by her relatives and the civil defense teams.
Imad explained that the Israeli warplanes bombed two houses of her family in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, on December 7, 2023, in which there were 36 individuals, including her parents and two of her brothers, one of them a child, and the rest were her grandfather, uncles, their wives and children, all of whom were martyred.
She added, “We remained for more than 42 days without knowing anything about the fate of all of them, and then we learned that they were all killed under the rubble due to the Israeli bombardment. And when the Israeli forces withdrew in early April, I, the sole survivor of my family, went with my uncles to try to retrieve the bodies, but we were unable to recover any of them.”
10,000 Palestinians missing
According to estimates by the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, there are more than 10,000 Palestinians missing under the rubble in the Gaza Strip, with no way to find them due to the difficulty of retrieving them and keeping them in unmarked graves, while there is an absence of any international humanitarian efforts to assist in recovering them.
The Euro-Med Monitor pointed out that the families of victims of the deadly and destructive military attacks carried out by Israel, approaching their tenth month, are facing enormous challenges in recovering the bodies, due to the lack of equipment and heavy machinery for civil defense teams, and the Israeli prevention of bringing in any equipment from outside the Gaza Strip.
The Euro-Med Monitor documented recurring patterns of the Israeli approach of preventing and obstructing the recovery of Palestinian victims and missing persons from under the ruins of destroyed homes, buildings and civilian objects, including repeatedly targeting civil defense teams, rescue teams and families trying to recover the bodies of victims, preventing the entry of fuel necessary for the remaining vehicles and heavy machinery, and preventing the entry of equipment.
Lack of equipment hinders recovery
Wessam Al-Sikni, a Palestinian from northern Gaza Strip, a survivor of the Israeli bombardment who lost several of his loved ones, explains that Israeli warplanes bombed his family’s house on November 22, 2023, a compound of five houses in the Beit Lahia project area north of the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the martyrdom of two of his children while about 45 others were killed in the same incident.
Al-Sikni mentioned that efforts were made over weeks to extricate the victims, but 15 of them are still under the rubble, as the massive size of the rubble and debris, the lack of equipment, and the repeated bombardment of the area impede their recovery.
Under the rubble
Ahmed al-Bahnasawi also sadly recounts how Israeli warplanes bombed their home on October 31, 2023, as part of a fiery barrage that targeted a residential square of about 40 homes in the “Al-Sawaydeh neighborhood” in the Jabalia refugee camp, north of the Gaza Strip.
Al-Bahnasawi explained that all 18 members of his family, along with about 400 others, were martyred in the extensive Israeli attack, noting that dozens of bodies were recovered over weeks, but about 50 people remain under the rubble, with no way to retrieve them due to the lack of equipment and the scale of the destruction.
The Israeli occupation army bears responsibility
According to the Euro-Med Monitor, the majority of the victims’ bodies recovered in the Israeli military attacks were either in the streets or in simple one-story or two-story buildings.
It points to the existence of serious difficulties in retrieving the bodies of the martyrs from under multi-story buildings, as the civil defense and rescue teams rely on dilapidated equipment, manual hammers, and primitive devices in the process of searching for the bodies under tens of thousands of tons of rubble, which hinders the effectiveness and continuity of the work.
Hundreds of civil defense workers were killed and injured, and the Israeli bombardment targeted most of the rescue vehicles they use.
The Euro-Med monitor affirmed the urgent need to bring in special machinery and equipment, as well as sufficient fuel, to begin clearing the rubble and search for the bodies of the martyrs, reach them, and recover them according to special procedures to identify their owners and bury them in dedicated cemeteries. This would stop the violation of the victims’ dignity, and activate their right and the right of their families to bury them with respect and decency, according to their religious rites.
Diseases and epidemics
Experts warn that the Israeli approach of preventing and obstructing the retrieval of victims represents a major cause in the spread of serious diseases and epidemics in the Gaza Strip. The vast majority of the bodies have already decomposed, adding further risks to the already deteriorating public health of civilians. This is due to Israel’s cutting off the necessary fuel supplies for the treatment of sewage and waste, as well as the contaminated state of water sources, which puts the health and well-being of over two million residents at risk.
The Euro-Med Monitor stressed that the prevention and obstruction of the retrieval of victims’ bodies from the rubble violates international humanitarian law and contradicts the decisions of the International Court of Justice regarding the need to stop the genocide in the Gaza Strip, as it involves the deliberate concealment of evidence. Additionally, the fact that thousands of victims remain missing constitutes an additional crime against their families, who suffer severe psychological anguish, forming another element of the crime of genocide committed by Israel against the Palestinians in the enclave.
It was emphasized that the continued presence of a large number of victims under the rubble and the failure of efforts to retrieve the bodies over months prove Israel’s deliberate use of various types of bombs and munitions, and disproportionate destructive force against Palestinian civilians and their property, in violation of the rules of protection for civilians and their property provided by international humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which concerns the protection of civilians in times of war.
