Mera Aladam
As people in
Gaza scour what remains of their homes and land following the ceasefire that
took effect on Sunday, victims of Israel's heavy bombardment campaign since 7
October 2023 are being recovered from beneath the rubble.
A boy rides his bicycle past destroyed infrastructure east of Rafah in
the southern Gaza Strip on 21 January 2025 (Bashar Taleb/AFP)
According to the
latest figures from the Palestinian health ministry, the death toll in Gaza
from the 15-month war has risen to 47,107, with an additional 111,147 wounded,
as assessments of the scale of destruction continue.
Since the
ceasefire, over 248 people have been added to the death toll, including 183
bodies found under the rubble.
The ministry
noted on Wednesday that 54 dead bodies were transported to hospitals in the
past 24 hours, 53 of them retrieved from destroyed buildings, along with 19
wounded.
Meanwhile, civil
defence crews in the enclave announced that while searching through the rubble,
they retrieved over 66 bodies on Tuesday and another 62 on Monday.
"We are
waiting for difficult and arduous tasks represented in searching for the bodies
of more than 10,000 martyrs, who are still under the rubble of destroyed homes,
buildings and facilities, not registered in the martyrs' statistics," they
said in a press release on Sunday.
Civil defence
forces themselves have suffered tremendous loss, with about 48 percent of their
staff killed, wounded or imprisoned.
After over 15
months of war, Palestinians are uncovering the mass destruction wrought by
Israel onto the enclave, with the most recent statistics from the government
media office on Tuesday placing the estimate of bombs dropped on Gaza at
100,000 tonnes of explosives.
The bombing
campaign has destroyed 88 percent of the strip's infrastructure and residential
areas, including homes, sewage networks, electricity grids and water lines.
Violations of
truce deal
Israeli forces
have violated the provisions of the ceasefire agreement several times since it
came into effect on Sunday morning.
The Israeli army
has carried out several attacks across the strip, firing live bullets and
directly targeting civilians, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Reports have
also emerged of booby traps being placed in houses and other infrastructure
just hours before the truce began, including one instance in a home in northern
Gaza that left several people wounded.
Wafa
correspondents confirmed on Sunday that 10 Palestinians were admitted to
al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City after being injured by unexploded ordnance left
behind by Israeli forces near the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
The Israeli army
has completely destroyed 161,600 housing units, rendered 81,000 homes
uninhabitable and partially destroyed 194,000 others, according to the latest
government office assessments.
Around 216
government headquarters and 42 sports facilities were also damaged during
Israel's 15-month bombardment.
The educational
sector has been severely impacted, with 137 schools and universities completely
destroyed and 357 partially demolished.
Religious
infrastructure in the enclave was also targeted, with three churches and over
832 mosques destroyed. Additionally, 206 archaeological and heritage sites were
wrecked during Israel's shelling campaign.
Gaza's water
networks have also been largely damaged, with around 330,000m of infrastructure
left in ruins.
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