Gaza Civil Defense teams recover bodies of 11 Palestinians from destroyed home

Palestinian civil defense teams in the Gaza Strip recovered the bodies of 11 Palestinians from beneath the rubble of a destroyed home in the Zeitoun neighborhood southeast of Gaza City, the agency said Wednesday. Mohammed Abu Dan, executive supervisor of the Civil Defense file for recovering victims from beneath the rubble, said teams completed operations at the Sawafiri family home after conducting search and recovery efforts for three days. The teams recovered 11 bodies, said Abu Dan, adding they then moved to another site in Gaza City to continue search and recovery operations. He said specialized teams will continue working as part of a project to recover the bodies of Palestinians buried beneath destroyed buildings across the Gaza Strip. The recovery operations come as large numbers of victims remain trapped beneath buildings destroyed during Israel's genocide of Gaza, which began on Oct. 8, 2023. Civil Defense teams face major difficulties because of limited equipment and resources needed to locate and recover bodies. On Saturday, Civil Defense teams recovered the remains of 21 Palestinians from beneath two homes destroyed by Israel while beginning searches for additional remains beneath the Sawafiri family home. The operations are part of the second phase of a project launched by the Civil Defense on July 19 to recover the bodies of Palestinians missing under the rubble. Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said at the time that the second phase included 800 hours of search and recovery operations at 147 destroyed homes in Gaza, including northern Gaza and central Gaza. The sites are believed to contain the remains of 1,072 people. Bassal said the operations were being carried out with “very modest” resources consisting of one excavator, one bulldozer and one truck, with support from the International Committee of the Red Cross. The first phase of the project began in November 2025, involving 500 hours of work. Teams recovered 333 bodies and remains from among 559 people missing beneath 54 homes and buildings, while limited resources prevented access to the remains of around 226 people still believed to be under the rubble. In October 2025, Gaza's Government Media Office said around 9,500 Palestinians had been reported missing since the start of the war, including people whose bodies remained beneath destroyed buildings and others whose fate was unknown. Israel's genocide of Gaza has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 174,000, mostly women and children. The war has also caused widespread destruction across the enclave, damaging about 90% of its infrastructure.