Gaza’s Ongoing Search for Missing Loved Ones Amid Rubble

The war that erupted after Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people in Israel on October 7, 2023 led to a year-long Israeli offensive in Gaza. A U.S.–brokered cease-fire was signed in October 2025, but strikes continue and large swaths of the enclave remain under military control. Tens of thousands are dead, displaced, and buried beneath an estimated 61 million tonnes of rubble.

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• The Palestinian Ministry of Health reports more than 74,000 deaths in Gaza.

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• Gaza’s Civil Defense estimates about 8,000 people are missing, many likely buried under the rubble.

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• Field crews have recovered around 1,000 bodies since the cease-fire, while approximately 1,000 unidentified bodies lie in mass graves.

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• Officials say 10 excavators, 10 bulldozers and 30 trucks are needed to complete the work.

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Mohammad Yousef Shalayel returned to his family’s home in Jabalya after an “enormous explosion” that collapsed four floors, leaving dismembered remains of children and women. Most of his relatives remain unaccounted for.

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Suha al-Sharif says her son Jihad was shot in November 2023 while fleeing Gaza City; his body was taken to Al-Shifa Hospital, but intensified attacks prevented burial, leaving her without knowledge of his final resting place.

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Residents in Tuffah and Nuseirat describe daily searches through rubble, often confronting stray dogs and decaying remains. The psychological toll includes “ambiguous loss,” a condition marked by persistent grief and anxiety.

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Pat Griffiths, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Jerusalem, notes that international humanitarian law obliges parties to conduct search and recovery work and preserve evidence.

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Volker Türk, UN human-rights chief, warned that bulldozers clearing rubble in Israeli-controlled zones risk erasing evidence of possible war crimes.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a 15-point plan for long-term stability, insisting forces will not withdraw “until Hamas is genuinely disarmed.”

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The Israeli Coordination and Liaison Administration for NGOs (COGAT) says it has allowed “essential equipment” such as engine oil and medical supplies but will withhold heavy machinery until Hamas is disarmed.

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Human-rights groups, including Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, have documented bulldozer use that could destroy forensic evidence and call for unrestricted international investigator access to all of Gaza.

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• “In the end, the family tries to comfort itself by believing that all of its relatives have been recovered from beneath the rubble,” — Mahmoud Basal, Civil Defense spokesperson

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• “We believe these people and their families have a right, as a matter of human dignity, to find their loved ones,” — Dr. Ahmad Dheir, forensic doctor

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Gaza’s Civil Defense is collaborating with international aid agencies to create a digital information-sharing system that assigns serial numbers to unnamed graves, enabling future DNA identification. Officials continue to request the additional excavators, bulldozers and trucks needed to finish recovery work. A mass funeral was held in Nuseirat on September 29, and burials for the “cemetery of the missing” took place in Deir al-Balah on February 13.

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Limited equipment, ongoing security restrictions, and the scale of destruction mean that locating and identifying the missing will likely extend for years, leaving families in prolonged uncertainty.

The Guardian