ReutersOn Monday, the first full day of peace in Gaza, relief workers and civilians began to realize the extent of the destruction in the Strip.
Gaza’s civil defense agency – the strip’s main emergency response service – said it feared more than 10,000 bodies were still buried beneath the vast sea of rubble.
Spokesman Mahmoud Basal told the BBC they hoped to recover the dead within 100 days, but would likely be delayed by a lack of bulldozers and other essential equipment.
New images from Gaza after Sunday’s ceasefire showed scenes of utter devastation caused by 15 months of Israeli offensive, particularly in the north of the enclave.
The UN has previously estimated that 60% of structures in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed.
Although the sounds of bombing were replaced by celebrations as the ceasefire began on Sunday, the reality facing Gaza residents remains desperate.
According to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), the war has left more than two million Gazans homeless, without income and totally dependent on food aid to survive.
This aid began arriving in Gaza immediately after the ceasefire on Sunday and the UN said at least 630 trucks entered the Gaza Strip before the end of the day – the highest number since the end of the day. war started 15 months ago.
EPASam Rose, acting director of UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza, said the aid supplies were only the beginning of the challenge of bringing life back to the strip.
“We’re not just talking about food, healthcare, buildings, roads, infrastructure, we have individuals, families and communities that need to be rebuilt,” he said.
“The trauma that they have experienced, the suffering, the loss, the grief, the humiliation and the cruelty that they have endured over the last 16 months – it is going to be a very, very long road.”
In Israel, the families of the three hostages released during the first exchange spoke Monday evening at a press conference in Tel Aviv. Mandy Damari, the mother of Emily Damari, who has dual Israeli-British citizenship, said Emily was in “good spirits” and “on the road to recovery” despite losing two fingers in the attack. Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Meirav Leshem Gonen, Romi Gonen’s mother, said: “We got our Romi back, but all families deserve the same fate, the living and the dead. Our thoughts are with the other families. »
Ahead of the press conference, Israeli authorities released new images showing Damari, 28, Gonen, 24, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, tearfully greeting their mothers on Sunday, just moments after they were taken out of Gaza.
If the first phase of the ceasefire holds, an additional 30 hostages will be released from Gaza over the next 40 days in exchange for around 1,800 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons.
EPAPalestinian health authorities estimate that more than 46,900 people have been killed in Gaza during the more than 15 months of war and more than 110,700 have been injured.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children – a claim supported by the UN.
A UK study published this month by the medical journal The Lancet suggests that the Health Ministry’s figures may underestimate the death toll by more than 40%.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said in a statement Monday that 48% of its own personnel were killed, injured or detained during the conflict, and 85% of its vehicles and 17 of 21 facilities were damaged or destroyed.
Although the risk of airstrikes has passed, for now, the arduous work continues for the remaining Civil Defense workers. Footage shared by the BBC on Monday by members of the agency in northern Gaza showed them carrying out arduous work, including recovering dead babies and damaged human remains.
“In every street there are dead people. In every neighborhood there are people under buildings,” said Abdullah Al-Majdalawi, a 24-year-old Civil Defense employee in Gaza City.
“Even after the ceasefire, we received many calls from people asking us to come, my family is buried under the rubble.”
Malaak Kasab, a 23-year-old displaced graduate from Gaza City, told the BBC on Monday that members of her own family were among those who had yet to be picked up.
“We lost a lot of family members and some are still under the destroyed buildings,” she said. “There are a lot of people under the rubble – everyone knows that.”
Kasab’s family home, located in an apartment building, was not completely destroyed, she said, but it was very badly damaged. “There are no doors, no windows, no water, no electricity, nothing. Not even wood to make a fire. It’s unlivable.”
Travel remains dangerous for displaced Gazans as the Israeli army begins the process of withdrawing from populated areas of the Gaza Strip.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have warned the population not to approach its personnel or facilities, nor enter the buffer zone it has created around the Gaza border and around the Gaza corridor. Netzarim, which cuts Gaza in two, separating the north from the south.
But many residents were eager to see what was left of their homes sooner than they had been told. Hatem Eliwah, a 42-year-old factory supervisor from Gaza City, said he planned to leave on foot from his shelter in Khan Younis in the south.
“We were waiting for this ceasefire like people waiting to enter paradise,” Eliwah said. “I lost two of my brothers and their families. I lost cousins, uncles. The only thing I still hope for is to return home.”
Both sides seriously fear that the deal could collapse even before the first phase is complete, in about six weeks, and Israel has stressed that it reserves the right to resume military action in Gaza at any time .
Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hailed the deal as a “ray of hope” and said its obligations must be respected.
But Guterres warned of a worsening situation in the occupied West Bank, which has seen a sharp increase in Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian villages since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
“Senior Israeli officials are openly talking about formally annexing all or part of the West Bank in the coming months,” Guterres said, adding: “Such an annexation would constitute a most serious violation of international law.”
Muath Al-Khatib contributed to this report
