News story in The Guardian
Sun 2 Nov 2025 06.15 EST
It has been described as one of the most gruelling recovery efforts in modern warfare.
As negotiations over the fragile Gaza ceasefire continue, Palestinians have started to dig through 61m tonnes of debris, 20 times more than the combined mass of all debris generated by conflicts since 2008. Underneath, at least 10,000 people are thought to be buried.
The Guardian spoke with several families in Gaza desperately searching for the bodies of their missing relatives, as well as members of the Palestinian civil defence, a branch of the security services responsible for emergency services and rescue operations. Photos, video footage and data shed light on the scale of the task ahead.
Widespread destruction across the Gaza Strip has generated more than 61m tonnes of debris
77% of the Gaza Strip’s road network has been blocked, damaged or destroyed
8m tonnes of debris is potentially hazardous
At least 300 injured and 50 killed by unexploded ordnance
Cumulative incidents reported to UNMAS
Casualties arriving at Gaza's hospital morgues
... Still buried a year on
On 29 October 2024, the five-storey house in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, where Aya Abu Nasr’s extended family lived collapsed after an Israeli airstrike.
“Most of my family members had been staying on the ground and first floors,” said Nasr, 26. “I lost five of my siblings – two brothers and three sisters – along with all their families. More than 100 members of my extended family died in that strike, and about 50 of them are still under the rubble to this day, a full year later.”.... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/02/the-grim-task-of-recovering-thousands-of-bodies-from-the-rubble-of-gaza