Palestinian rescuers remove 20 more bodies from northern Gaza

The Civil Defence rescue teams removed the remains of the bodies of 20 Palestinians found in an empty land in the northern Gaza Strip who were killed by the Israeli army in the course of its genocidal war, Anadolu Agency reports.

Anadolu correspondent witnessed, on Sunday, the recovery operations for the bodies from piles of sand in an empty land near a destroyed shelter school in the Sheikh Zayed town in northern Gaza.

Some bodies were recovered in a decomposed and dismembered state, while others were reduced to a few bones, which Civil Defence teams collected in small bags.

A rescue worker involved in the recovery operation told Anadolu that these bodies were discovered while levelling an empty plot of land near a shelter encampment being set up to receive displaced people who are returning from the southern Gaza Strip.

The rescuer, who requested anonymity, added that these bodies belonged to a group of Palestinians who were “executed and buried here by the Israeli army” during the months of genocide.

He also noted that none of the bodies have been identified, despite the time that has passed since their recovery.

Since the ceasefire in Gaza took effect on 19 January, hundreds of bodies of Palestinians were recovered and removed from under the rubble of destroyed homes and from the roads across the Gaza Strip.

According to figures from the Health Ministry in Gaza, the rescue teams have removed 488 bodies since the ceasefire took effect on 19 January.

Israel’s genocidal war has killed more than 47,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and injured over 111,000 since 7 October, 2023.

The Israeli onslaught on Gaza has left more than 11,000 people missing, with widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed the lives of many elderly people and children in one of the worst-ever global humanitarian disasters.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

READ: 9 countries form Hague Group in support of Palestine