Over 110 bodies found in rubble as Israeli strikes kill 13 more in Gaza
- Last updated: August 2, 2026 | 17:04
Authorities in Gaza said that they had recovered the remains of another 112 people in rubble, part of daunting operations after more than two years of Israeli strikes.
Gaza's civil defence agency said it found the remains or body parts following 136 hours of digging, largely with bare hands, in Sabra, a neighbourhood in the south of Gaza City.
The remains included those of 40 children, 38 women and seven people who had had physical disabilities, according to the agency, which serves as a rescue service under Hamas.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it supported the operation, which took place over nearly two weeks.
"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," said Amani Al Naouq, ICRC spokesperson in Gaza.
"The search for missing persons and the recovery of human remains is a critically important humanitarian issue," she told AFP.
Colonel Mohammed Abu Dan, who is in charge of the site for the civil defence agency, said that the team has not yet found 157 other bodies believed to be under the rubble there.
He described the search as arduous, with teams sifting by hand through destroyed concrete and twisted metal.
Thousands of people's remains are still unaccounted for in Gaza, many of them believed to have been buried under rubble from intense Israeli air strikes.
Restrictions imposed on media outlets and limited access in Gaza prevent AFP from independently verifying tolls or freely covering the violence.
The Hamas-run health ministry has confirmed the deaths of more than 73,300 people in the war, in figures that are considered reliable by the United Nations.
Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza for a second straight day on Sunday, killing at least 13 Palestinians, medics said, despite US President Donald Trump's announcement of a breakthrough in efforts to implement last year's Gaza ceasefire agreement.
From dawn, Israeli warplanes hit Gaza City in the north, the central city of Deir Al Balah and the southern area of Khan Younis, causing the biggest daily death toll in weeks, according to Palestinian health officials.
Trump's assertion on Thursday that Hamas and other Palestinian groups had agreed to disarm had raised hopes of a turning point in the conflict.
On Sunday, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen — a member of Prime Minister Netanyahu's security cabinet — told Israel's Army Radio the government would give Hamas the opportunity to disarm but said he was "very sceptical" that would happen.
Cohen added that there had been no deal to halt attacks on Gaza and that he saw a need for Israel - which already controls 70% of the enclave - to take full control of it if Hamas did not disarm. "In the deal we signed with the United States, our stance is that Hamas must be dismantled. This is the first thing that must happen," he added.
ATTACKS HIT TENTS, APARTMENT AND HOUSE, MEDICS SAY
Strikes on Deir Al Balah killed at least four people, Palestinian health officials said, and a separate attack wounded five people and set some tents ablaze in Mawasi near Khan Younis, according to the civil emergency service.
A couple and their 9-year-old son were also killed in a strike on a house in Mawasi, Palestinian officials said. Another couple was killed with their child in a strike on an apartment in Gaza City, where two more people died in a strike on a tent near the office of the Egyptian representative mission, medics said.
Another person was killed near Jabalia in northern Gaza, they added. The Israeli military said a strike on an apartment in Deir Al Balah was targeting two commanders of Hamas' elite "Nukhba" force.
Agencies