SAFA - 20 victims' bodies were recovered from under the rubble of a house destroyed by Israeli bombing in the Zeitoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City, the Civil Defense in Gaza revealed on Tuesday.

The Civil Defense said in a press release, "Our teams have completed the search for the bodies of Palestinian victims, and they recovered the remains of 20 bodies, some from the Salmi family and some from the Haddad family." 

They added, "We moved on to search for the remains of other bodies from the Irhim family under their destroyed house near the Ali Mosque in the same area."

It is worth mentioining that in recent days and weeks, Civil Defense teams have recovered the bodies and remains of hundreds of Palestinian victims from under houses destroyed by the Israeli occupation forces, using basic equipment, due to the ongoing Israeli restrictions preventing the entry of vehicles and equipment necessary for the recovery work.

Civil Defense teams face enormous difficulties during recovery operations, particularly because of the severe shortage of vehicles and heavy equipment, while Israel continues to restrict the entry of specialized machinery needed for the work.

Rescue crews are relying on a single excavator to remove hundreds of tons of concrete and rubble left behind by the destruction of homes and other buildings, while search operations extend across vast areas containing thousands of tons of debris.

Estimates by Gaza’s Civil Defense and official medical authorities indicate that between 10,000 and 15,000 people remain missing, with their bodies and remains believed to still be trapped beneath the rubble of destroyed homes and buildings across the Gaza Strip.

The ongoing recovery efforts continue to reveal a tragedy that does not end when the bombing stops. Palestinian families are still waiting to recover the bodies of their loved ones, including their children, so they can bury them, while Civil Defense crews confront mountains of rubble with extremely limited resources in their efforts to reach those who have remained buried for years.