Everything blends together. Children’s multi-colored bag. A running shoe. A steel vessel with a hole in it. bedsteads, chairs, cookers, lampshades; Broken window panes, glasses, drinking glasses. Pieces of clothing.
These final cut, dust-covered objects may be markers. Often they are associated with the dead lying near the surface of the debris.
“Ever since the Israeli occupation forces withdrew from Rafah, we have been receiving reports from citizens about the presence of the bodies of their relatives under their houses,” says Haitham al-Hams, director of the Civil Defense Agency’s Emergency and Ambulance Services in Rafah. 150 calls received.” At the southernmost tip of the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health estimates that 10,000 people are missing. Where there are no obvious signs such as clothing on the surface, search teams rely on information from relatives and neighbors, or they follow the smell of death that wafts from the ruins.
Warning: This story contains disturbing content.
