Here everything appears jumbled and chaotic. A colorful school bag lies in one place a shoe in another a metal vase somewhere pieces of a bed or chair scattered around broken windows shards of a glass and torn clothing in different spots. These dust covered items in Gaza are often seen as keepsakes of loved ones serving as reminders. They hint that the individuals who used these belongings may have their bodies buried nearby under the rubble. Hisham Al-Hams the Director of Emergency and Ambulance Services in Rafah says. Since the withdrawal of the occupying Israeli forces from Rafah we have received approximately 150 phone calls from people informing us that their relatives' bodies are buried under the rubble of homes. Palestinian health officials estimate that around 10,000 people are still missing. Emergency teams often identify the presence of bodies under the rubble by spotting clothing or other belongings. However when such signs are not visible they rely on information from the relatives of the missing individuals or attempt to detect the smell of blood and human remains near the debris.
The Israeli government has imposed restrictions on foreign news agencies from entering Gaza and reporting freely. In such circumstances we rely on credible local journalists to bring the stories of those searching for the missing to the world. At the end of each day the. Emergency and Ambulance Services remove the names of individuals from the missing persons lists whose bodies have been recovered. Hisham's teams work with extreme caution while removing the rubble knowing that beneath these piles of dirt and stones they are searching for the shattered remains of humanity. Often all they recover from under the rubble are heaps of bones. The explosions from Israeli bombs frequently dismember the bodies of the deceased into multiple fragments. The bones and pieces of clothing found are carefully wrapped in shrouds and Hisham labels these shroud like bags as unidentifiable. When Osama Saleh a resident of Rafah returned to his home after the ceasefire he found a skeleton inside its skull fractured. Osama believes the body had been there for about four or five months.
He says. We are human beings and we have emotions. I cannot describe how helpless and tragic this situation is. People returning to the area recount that wherever they go the stench of decomposing bodies hits their nostrils. Osama adds. These bodies are horrifying we are witnessing terror with our own eyes. I swear this is a painful feeling and I cry as I feel all of this he says.
At the hospitals in Rafah long lines of people are often seen waiting to receive the remains of their family members. In the courtyard of the European Hospital in southern Gaza bundles of bones and pieces of clothing are laid out in bags. 19-year-old Abdul Salam was a resident of Rafah. According to his uncle Zaki he went missing in the Shabora area a place where survival during the war was incredibly difficult. Zaki says That's why we didn’t go to search for Abdul Salam there because we knew we wouldn’t come back alive. Zaki believes that the bones and clothing in front of him belong to his missing nephew Abdul Salam. He is standing here with a hospital worker Jihad Abu Khreis waiting for Abdul Salam's brother to arrive. Jihad says. We are 99% sure that this is Abdul Salam's body but we are still waiting for his brother to confirm. He is the closest relative and will be able to say for sure if these shoes and pants belong to his brother. Then Abdul Salam's brother arrived at the hospital from a refugee camp in southern Gaza. On his mobile phone he had a picture of his missing brother in which his shoes were also visible.
They bent down in front of the body and removed the covering. They touched the skull and the clothes then looked at the shoes. Tears filled their eyes and with that, the identification process for another body was complete. Nearby another family was rummaging through burial shrouds. There was an elderly grandmother a son a daughter and an infant. In this group the child was kept at the back while the elderly woman and her son were looking at one of the shrouds. They stared at it for a few moments then embraced each other in grief and began to cry. Afterwards with the help of hospital staff the family took the remains of one of the bodies with them. Their sobs could be heard but they were not crying loudly. 13-year-old Aya al-Dabiha was living in a school in the north of Gaza with her family and thousands of other refugees. She was one of the nine children of her parents. According to her family during the early days of the war in Gaza Aya went to the bathroom on the upper floor of the school where she was shot in the chest by an Israeli sniper. The Israeli military claims that they do not target civilians and accuses Hamas fighters of launching attacks from civilian areas.
However according to the United Nations Office for Human Rights during the war the Israeli military fired heavily in densely populated areas resulting in unlawful deaths including unarmed bystanders. Aya's family buried her near the school. Her 43-year-old mother. Lina al-Dabiha wrapped her in a blanket so that if anyone disturbed her grave her body would be protected from rain and sunlight. When the Israeli military took control of the school Lina al-Dabiha moved to the southern part of Gaza. She had no choice but to leave her daughter’s grave behind but she hoped to return later to recover her daughter's remains and properly arrange her burial. Speaking about her daughter Lina al-Dabiha says. Aya was a very kind girl everyone loved her and she loved everyone. She was very good in her studies and always wanted the best for everyone.
When a ceasefire was declared in the area Lina al-Dabiha asked her relatives to visit her daughter's grave. The news they brought was horrifying. We were told that her head was somewhere else her torso somewhere else and her ribs somewhere else. Those who went to see her grave showed us these things in pictures. When I saw it I couldn’t understand how her body had come out of the grave and how the dogs had eaten it. I couldn’t control my emotions. Lina al-Dabiha's family has collected her daughter's bones and now Aya's remains will be properly buried in a grave.Although a ceasefire has been declared in Gaza Lina al-Dabiha sees no end to her grief. She says. I couldn’t take her body out of the grave and bring it with me. Tell me where could I have taken her?