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Civil defense teams continue searching with heavy machinery for the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks and trapped under rubble in the al-Amal neighborhood of Khan Yunis, Gaza, on December 20, 2025. [Abed Rahim Khatib – Anadolu Agency]
Civil defense teams in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis are continuing efforts to recover the bodies of Palestinians trapped beneath rubble following Israeli attacks, as the Gaza Strip remains under blockade, Anadolu reports.
The bodies of those killed in the strikes and left buried under collapsed buildings throughout the war are being searched for by civil defense crews using heavy machinery.
Remains recovered after prolonged periods beneath the rubble, including dismembered body parts and bones, are being collected by the teams for later identification.
Israel has killed nearly 70,700 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 171,000 in Gaza since October 2023 and reduced the enclave to rubble.
According to the latest data from Gaza’s Government Media Office, the conflict has resulted in the complete destruction of 268,000 housing units, with 148,000 severely damaged beyond habitability and 153,000 partially damaged.
A ceasefire agreement brokered between Hamas and Israel on October 10 of last year halted large-scale military operations. However, reports indicate that Israel continues demolitions in areas under its control, and the Israeli military has been accused of hundreds of violations of the agreement, including bombardments and killings.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
PRCS workers bidding farewell to the 8 PRCS workers who were targeted and killed by Israel. Photo: PRCS
The mass killings tainted the supposedly joyful occasion in Gaza with blood, and replaced celebrations with funerals.
Over 60 Palestinians were killed in multiple Israeli airstrikes that rocked different parts of the Gaza strip, on Sunday, March 30, which also marked the first day of Eid Al-Fitr holiday.
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) intensified their aerial attacks on the besieged enclave in the early hours of Sunday and throughout the day. However, hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza gathered to perform Eid prayers atop the rubble of demolished mosques, in a clear message to the world that their will to survive is greater than Israel’s destruction.
Israel deliberately targeted rescue teams in Rafah
The first day of Eid saw another incident of tragedy for the people of Gaza, after the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) announced that it retrieved the bodies of 14 aid workers in Rafah, southern Gaza. The 14 included eight PRCS medics, five staff members of the Palestinian Civil Defense agency, and an employee working with a UN agency.
The recovery of the bodies was announced six days after the PRCS had lost contact with the rescue teams. The release of satellite images exclusively obtained by Al Jazeera demonstrated that the IOF destroyed at least five rescue vehicles belonging to the PRCS and the Civil Defense, who were on a humanitarian mission in Tel al-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah. The IOF did so after they targeted the teams of both organizations, which included 15 volunteers.
Mourning its executed staff, the PRCS said in a statement that “they were targeted by the Israeli occupation forces while performing their humanitarian duties as they were heading to the Hashashin area of Rafah to provide first aid to a number of people injured by Israeli shelling in the area.” The organization added that a ninth medic remains missing.
The PRCS called the massacre a “tragedy” not only for the organization “but also for humanitarian work and humanity.” Emphasizing that the incident was a deliberate execution the PRCS said that the rescue teams were targeted by the IOF “despite the protected status of their mission and the Red Crescent emblem.”
It also pointed out that the incident “can only be considered a war crime punishable under international humanitarian law, which the occupation continues to violate before the eyes of the entire world.”
Meanwhile, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) expressed its outrage at the deaths of eight medics from the PRCS.
The IFRC stressed that when the medics were killed, their ambulance vehicle was “clearly marked” and they were wearing emblems that “should have protected them.”
“I am heartbroken. These dedicated ambulance workers were responding to wounded people. They were humanitarians. They wore emblems that should have protected them; their ambulances were clearly marked. They should have returned to their families; they did not.” IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain stated.
“Even in the most complex conflict zones, there are rules. These rules of International Humanitarian Law could not be clearer – civilians must be protected; humanitarians must be protected. Health services must be protected.” He added.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAUK Labour Party Shadow Foreign Secretary repeatedly heckled at a speech to the Fabian Society over his and the Labour Party’s support for and complicity in Israel’s genocide of Gaza.
