Gaza civil defence recovers 112 bodies from Sabra rubble, including 40 children, after two-week search

Recovery operation in Sabra

Palestinian Civil Defence teams completed a two-week search operation in the Sabra neighbourhood, south of Gaza City, on Saturday, recovering the remains of 112 people from destroyed residential buildings. The teams spent 136 hours digging, largely with bare hands, through collapsed concrete and twisted metal. The International Committee of the Red Cross supported the effort, providing coordination and assistance. The operation required time, appropriate equipment, and the coordination of multiple actors, according to the ICRC.

For more than two and a half years, thousands of families in Gaza have lived in pain and uncertainty, waiting for the chance to recover the remains of their loved ones, mourn them and lay them to rest with dignity.

The search for missing persons and the recovery of human remains is a critically important humanitarian issue.

The human toll

Among the 112 bodies recovered, 40 were children, 38 were women, and seven were people with physical disabilities, according to the Civil Defence agency. The remaining 27 were men or individuals whose details were not immediately specified. The recovery of so many vulnerable victims reflects the heavy civilian toll of the conflict. Many of the remains consisted of body parts, complicating identification.

Missing and ongoing search

Colonel Mohammed Abu Dan, who oversees the site for the Civil Defence, said that 157 other bodies are believed to remain buried under the rubble at the same location. He described the search conditions as extremely difficult, with teams forced to sift manually through heavy debris without adequate equipment. The exact number of missing across Gaza remains uncertain due to the scale of destruction and restricted access to many areas.

War context and continuing violence

The war began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,221 people and taking 251 hostages. Since then, the Hamas-run health ministry has confirmed more than 73,300 deaths in Gaza, figures the United Nations considers reliable. On the same day the recovery operation concluded, Israeli airstrikes killed at least four Palestinians in separate strikes on Gaza City and Deir al-Balah, including a man and his wife, with four others wounded. The strikes continued despite US President Donald Trump's announcement of a breakthrough in efforts to implement a ceasefire agreement. Restrictions on media and limited access prevent independent verification of tolls and free coverage of the violence.