Gaza teams recover remains of 55 people nearly 3 years after Israeli strike — SkimNews
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- Gaza civil defence concluded a recovery operation on Saturday, retrieving 55 Palestinian remains from the rubble of the Malka family home in the Zeitoun neighbourhood nearly three years after it was struck.
- Israel hit the building on November 19, 2023, while Malka family members were sheltering inside after being displaced from their own homes during the war, according to the Wafa news agency.
- Colonel Muhammad Abu Dan, who supervised the rescue teams, said crews had been searching for more than 60 bodies from the Malka family over the past 72 hours, hampered by a chronic shortage of heavy machinery needed to clear broken concrete.
- The United Nations Satellite Centre reports that 82% of all buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged, while Gaza's Ministry of Health and UN agencies estimate that 10,000 to 14,000 people remain missing under rubble across the territory.
- Abu Dan called on international humanitarian organisations to provide equipment so his teams can recover more of the missing, and a joint funeral procession for the Malka family is expected next weekend.
Why it matters: The Malka recovery lays bare the scale of Gaza's physical devastation — 82% of buildings damaged and 10,000–14,000 people still missing under rubble — and shows how manual, machinery-starved teams are only now locating victims of strikes from late 2023, meaning final death tolls may take years to compile.
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