Gaza’s Civil Defence teams have spent nearly two years sifting through the ruins of a devastated land, a place where entire neighbourhoods have been erased and thousands of lives lost without trace. Since the beginning of the genocidal war, more than 53,000 bodies have been recovered from beneath collapsed buildings, while tens of thousands of others remain missing, likely buried under what was once their homes. Rescue workers, working with bare hands and shattered equipment, continue their search amid bombed-out streets and an ever-present risk of renewed airstrikes.

The relentless bombardment has turned Gaza’s rescue operations into a test of human endurance. Teams often respond to hundreds of emergency calls daily, many of which they cannot reach because of destroyed roads, fuel shortages, or ongoing military activity. In many cases, ambulances arrive only to find entire families gone, their bodies disintegrated by weapons that generate extreme heat. Civil Defence units report the use of explosives so powerful that victims vanish without a trace, leaving behind nothing but scorched earth and toxic remnants that will haunt the Strip for years to come.

Despite losing over a hundred of their own members, Gaza’s rescuers persist. Exhausted, malnourished, and operating with minimal resources, they remain the last lifeline for communities facing unimaginable destruction. Their vehicles, stations, and equipment have been repeatedly targeted, yet they continue to dig through the rubble, refusing to abandon the living or the dead. For many in Gaza, these men and women have become a symbol of endurance, risking everything to give dignity to those who perished and hope to those still waiting to be found.