Israeli Army’s Yellow Line Delays Gaza Search for Thousands Presumed Dead

RFI reports that in the Gaza Strip, thousands of people are presumed dead and their bodies have never been found, likely buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings, with search work described as a “travail de titan” that faces multiple obstacles.

“For thousands of people in Gaza, like Farouk and Faysal, life is a constant story of survival, a desperate race against hunger”

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Patrick Griffith, porte-parole du CICR, said families “ne savent pas s'ils sont détenus, ou s'ils ont été tués et que leurs dépouilles n'ont pas encore été retrouvées ou identifiées.”

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RFI says search operations are carried out by the Défense civile and Gaza authorities, with the CICR providing help while there is “qu’un seul bulldozer” currently available in the territory.

Griffith told RFI that “Dans les semaines à venir, nous pourrons affirmer que nous disposons de deux bulldozers en état de marche” and that another bulldozer was being repaired with spare parts available on the local market.

RFI adds that access is constrained by a “ligne jaune” drawn by the Israeli army, and Griffith said requests are sometimes delayed or rejected when operations must occur east of that line.

Télérama says that officially, 11,200 people remain missing in Gaza since the start of the ceasefire in October 2025, and it describes the Palestinian Civil Defense launching search operations since late November.

The report says the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip went into effect on October 10, 2025, and that it “reste fragile,” while the images it broadcasts are described as “harrowing.”

RFI

In the Al-Aqqad family case described by الجزيرة نت, a missing relative in a tent in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis city said, 'God willing, they are alive.'

The same report says the family’s case dates back to the December 2023 invasion, when the area underwent broad military operations that killed the father and arrested the son, while there has been no trace of the mother and daughter since then.

Al Jazeera correspondent Rami Taima said a photograph circulated in recent days showing an Israeli soldier with a Palestinian woman and her daughter blindfolded inside a military vehicle was confirmed by the family to involve members of the Al-Aqqad family who disappeared during the war on the Gaza Strip.

عرب 48 reports that the Palestinian Center for Missing and Enforced Disappearances urged the European Parliament to mobilize its political and legal tools to raise the fate of about 3,000 missing and forcibly disappeared children in the Gaza Strip within European institutions.

“Officially, eleven thousand two hundred people remain missing in Gaza since the start of the ceasefire in October 2025”

Télérama

The center said the campaign targets members of the European Parliament and international human rights organizations on the occasion of the World Day of Missing Children, and it added that about 2,900 children in Gaza remain missing or forcibly disappeared since the start of the aggression.

It also stated that estimates indicate roughly 2,700 children are under the rubble of destroyed buildings, with rescue operations stalling due to a lack of heavy equipment and fuel, alongside the targeting of rescue and civil defense crews.

In the same context, الجزيرة نت reports that Alaa Sakafi, director of the Conscience Foundation for Human Rights, said official requests had been submitted to the Israeli side to inquire about the fate of two missing women but no response has been received yet.

The report says the Health Ministry reported that 377 bodies out of 480 were buried without identity, and it describes how emergency burials during the war without sufficient documentation or direct supervision by families have deepened ambiguity surrounding the missing file.