Palestinians have recovered dozens of bodies buried under rubble in the Gaza Strip and are searching for thousands more as the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continues for a second day.
Medical officials told Al Jazeera on Monday that the first three prisoners held by Hamas and 90 Palestinians from Israeli prisons had been released, leaving Gaza devastated since a ceasefire took effect the day before. The bodies of 97 Palestinians were reportedly recovered in the southern city of Rafah. .
Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, most of them 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 area.
Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for the Palestinian Civil Emergency Authority in Gaza, said at least 2,840 bodies had been melted, but no trace remained.
Meanwhile, many of the displaced people who returned to the neighborhood found themselves almost unrecognizable due to the devastation of more than 15 months of war.
“(The level of destruction) was a huge shock. I can’t count the number of (people) who are in shock because of what happened to their homes. It’s destruction, complete destruction.” Mohamed Gomaa, who passed away, told Reuters.
“It’s different from earthquakes and floods, no. What happened was a war of annihilation.”
Meanwhile, more than 630 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Sunday, with at least 300 heading to the northern enclave where famine is looming, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council on Monday.
As aid flows to the Palestinian enclave increases, residents flood the market, some expressing joy at the lower prices and the presence of new food items such as imported chocolate.
Aya Mohammad Zaki, a displaced woman from Gaza who has taken refuge in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, told Reuters: “Prices are going down, the war is over, and more goods can cross.” ” he said.
Attention has also begun to shift to rebuilding coastal enclaves destroyed by Israeli forces in retaliation for the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
According to Israeli counts, 1,139 people were killed in these attacks and about 250 were taken prisoner in Gaza.
A United Nations damage assessment released this month showed that removing more than 50 million tons of debris left after Israeli shelling could take 21 years and cost up to $1.2 billion.
A United Nations report last year said rebuilding Gaza’s shattered homes could take at least until 2040, but could take decades. The rubble is believed to be contaminated with asbestos, as some of the refugee camps attacked during the war are known to have been built using asbestos.
United Nations Development Program officials said Sunday that development in the Gaza Strip has been set back for 69 years as a result of the conflict.
Isolated incident while ceasefire is largely in place
Gaza residents and officials said Monday that despite some incidents of violence, the ceasefire appears to be largely holding.
According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, two Palestinian civilians, one of them a teenage boy, were killed by Israeli snipers in Rafah.
Eight Palestinians, including children, were injured in Israeli gunfire in Rafah on Monday.
The Israeli military said it fired warning shots at people who approached soldiers deployed in accordance with the cease-fire agreement.
Meanwhile, Mohammad El-Masri, professor of media studies at Doha Graduate University, said Israeli media is now paying increasing attention to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s response to the Gaza war.
“They are calling this a spectacular failure,” he told Al Jazeera, stressing that Netanyahu had failed to deliver on his promise to eliminate Hamas.
“And now he has to watch on every television screen Hamas fighters in military uniform escorting Israeli prisoners to their cars,” the academic added.
“He notes that Hamas will continue to rule Gaza and oversee the security situation, the humanitarian situation, and all elements of this ceasefire. Hamas has not been excluded, and this is very important to Prime Minister Netanyahu. It’s embarrassing.”
