Gaza: 8,000 bodies under the rubble and 3,000 missing

Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal revealed that approximately 8,000 bodies remain buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings across the Gaza Strip, despite ongoing search and recovery operations.

In a press statement on Thursday, Bassal explained that Civil Defense teams are continuing their work under complex conditions and with limited resources, hindering access to many affected areas.

He added that more than 3,000 people are still missing, with no confirmed information regarding their fate—whether they are alive, killed, or detained.

He noted that hundreds of bodies have decomposed or become unrecognizable during the search operations due to the extended duration and the difficulty of removing the rubble amid a shortage of heavy equipment and necessary technical resources.