Over 12,000 bodies remain under Gaza rubble as Israel bans equipment to retrieve them

The head of Gaza’s Government Media Office says more than 12,000 bodies are estimated to be trapped under the rubble in the strip, amid Israeli restrictions on the entry of needed heavy machinery.

Speaking at a news conference at the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, Salama Maarouf said Israel's refusal to allow the entry of heavy machinery into Gaza was hampering the recovery of the bodies.

He added that Palestinian resistance movement Hamas would not also be able to give back the bodies of the Israeli captives killed during Israel’s war on Gaza because of the regime’s restrictions.

During the 15 months of the Israeli regime’s genocidal war against the people of Palestine that began in October 2023, at least 47,583 were killed, and 111,633 injured, most of them children and women.

On January 15, the Israeli regime, failing to achieve any of its war objectives including the “elimination” of Hamas or the release of captives, was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

The Israeli restrictions come in violation of the agreement.

Earlier in the day, the Government Media Office warned that Israel is “seriously” worsening the humanitarian situation in the strip by not allowing the delivery of the “minimum” amount of aid agreed upon in the ceasefire deal.

“The amount of aid that entered the Gaza Strip is still far from the minimum required,” the Government Media Office said.

The office urged the ceasefire deal’s mediators to exert pressure on Israel to implement the humanitarian protocol of the agreement.

It also urged the international community not to remain silent on the human tragedy and called for “accelerating the convening of an international conference on the reconstruction of Gaza” to thwart schemes to displace Palestinians.

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