Emergency Workers Recover Bodies Amid Gaza City Conflict

Dozens of bodies collected from a western neighborhood in Gaza City were delivered to Al-Ahli Hospital on Friday morning. Palestinian emergency workers reported continuing to recover the dead from the devastated streets and buildings of the area.

Fadel Naem, the hospital’s director, informed The Associated Press that both deceased and wounded individuals had been brought in from the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood. They were transported in groups of up to 10 amidst sniper fire and the noise of helicopters.

Emergency crews from the civil defense were still retrieving bodies from the rubble, where entire families appear to have been killed by artillery and airstrikes, according to Mahmoud Basal, the group’s spokesperson.

The Israeli army stated it could not comment on its activities in the region.

“There are homes we cannot reach, and there are those who were burned inside their homes,” Basal noted, highlighting that many of the dead had left nearby shelters following evacuation orders.

In recent months, Israel has increased its operations in various Gaza City neighborhoods, including the Shati refugee camp and Shujaiya, issuing multiple evacuation orders in the northern part of the territory.

The scenes in Tal al-Hawa are similar to those in other Gaza City neighborhoods from which Israel’s military has recently withdrawn. On Thursday, civil defense workers discovered 60 bodies in Shujaiya under similar conditions, with more believed to be buried under the debris.