Gaza Civil Defence recovers 94 bodies buried in makeshift grave

Gaza’s Civil Defence announced on Saturday that it had recovered the bodies of 94 Palestinians who were buried in an improvised manner in Gaza City during Israel’s war on the territory.

It said it transferred the bodies to proper cemeteries for official burial.

While Gaza’s health ministry says close to 71,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s relentless, two-year offensive, thousands more bodies are believed to be buried beneath the rubble.

Many people were forced to bury their loved ones in temporary and mass graves, as well as in school and hospital courtyards and along streets, with access to cemeteries made incredibly difficult during the war.

In a statement, the Civil Defence said its crews, in cooperation with local residents, had exhumed the bodies of 94 people who were buried in an informal grave along Al-Sahaba Street in central Gaza City, in the north of the enclave.

It added that the bodies were handed over to the forensic medicine department at Al-Shifa Hospital, before being reburied at the Martyrs’ Cemetery in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip.

The Civil Defence said in recent months it had completed the transfer of thousands of bodies who were buried in makeshift locations because of the war, adding that some of the bodies remain unidentified.

Gaza’s Civil Defence personnel have been working in extremely hazardous conditions, with exposed bodies and a shortage of protective equipment and biological testing tools.

Israel’s ongoing restrictions and limits on the entry of essential medical supplies into Gaza have further hampered their work, increasing the risk of disease and infection during recovery and transport operations.

A fragile US-brokered ceasefire has held in the Palestinian territory since 10 October, despite ongoing Israeli violations of the agreement that have claimed hundreds of lives.