The war has left more than two million Gazans homeless, without income, and completely dependent on food aid to survive
On the first full day of peace in Gaza on Monday, rescue workers and civilians began to reckon with the sheer scale of the destruction to the Strip.
Gaza’s Civil Defence agency – the strip’s main emergency response service – said it feared there were more than 10,000 bodies still buried under the vast sea of rubble.
Spokesman Mahmoud Basal told the BBC that they hoped to recover the dead within 100 days, but were likely to be delayed by a deficit of bulldozers and other essential equipment.
New images from Gaza following Sunday’s ceasefire showed scenes of total devastation wrought during 15 months of Israeli offensive, particularly in the north of the enclave.
The UN has previously estimated that 60% of structures across Gaza have been damaged or destroyed.
Though the sounds of bombing were replaced by celebrations as the ceasefire began on Sunday, the reality facing people across Gaza remains desperate.
According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the war has left more than two million Gazans homeless, without income, and completely dependent on food aid to survive.
That aid began to enter Gaza immediately after the ceasefire on Sunday and the UN said at least 630 lorries went into the Strip before the end of the day.
On Monday, a further 915 lorries entered the enclave, the UN said, the highest number since the start of the war 15 months ago.
EPA Destuction in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip following the Israeli army withdrawal from the regionEPA
Destuction in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip following the Israeli army withdrawal from the region.
Sam Rose, acting director of Unrwa, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency in Gaza, said the aid supplies were just the beginning in the challenge of bringing the strip back to life.
“We’re not just talking about food, healthcare, buildings, roads, infrastructure, we’ve got individuals, families, communities that need to be rebuilt,” he said.
“The trauma that they’ve gone through, the suffering, the loss, the grief, the humiliation, and the cruelty that they’ve endured over the past 16 months – this is going to be a very, very long road.”
In Israel, the families of the three hostages who were freed in the first exchange spoke at a news conference in Tel Aviv on Monday night. Mandy Damari, the mother of dual Israeli-British citizen Emily Damari, said Emily was in “high spirits” and “on the road to recovery” despite losing two fingers in the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023.
Meirav Leshem Gonen, the mother of Romi Gonen, said: “We got our Romi back, but all families deserve the same outcome, both the living and the dead. Our hearts go out to the other families.”
Before the news conference, Israeli authorities released new footage showing Damari, 28, Gonen, 24, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31 tearfully greeting their mothers on Sunday just moments after being taken out of Gaza.
If the first phase of the ceasefire holds, 30 more hostages will be released from Gaza over the next 40 days in return for about 1,800 Palestinians freed from Israeli jails.
Palestinian health authorities estimate that more than 46,900 people were killed in Gaza during the more than 15 months of war and more than 110,700 were wounded.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but it says the majority of the dead are women and children – an assertion backed by the UN.
A UK-led study published by the medical journal The Lancet this month suggested that the health ministry figures may underestimate the death toll by more than 40%.
The Gaza Civil Defence agency said in a statement on Monday that 48% of its own personnel had been killed, injured or detained during the conflict, and 85% of its vehicles and 17 out of 21 facilities had been damaged or destroyed.
Though the risk from air strikes is gone, for now, the grim work continues for the remaining Civil Defence workers. Pictures shared with the BBC by members of the agency in northern Gaza on Monday showed them performing harrowing work, including the recovery of dead babies and of human remains in poor condition.
“In every street there are dead. In every neighbourhood there are people under the buildings,” said Abdullah Al-Majdalawi, a 24-year-old Civil Defence worker in Gaza City.
“Even after the ceasefire we received many calls from people saying please come, my family is buried under the rubble.”
bbc.com