Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Palestine – With a weighty heart, enthusiastic eyes and trembling hands, Abu Muhammed Ghaith pimpolitently searched thraw the dense nylon bags employd as produceshift shrouds for those ended in Gaza. Inside the morgue at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, he was hoping to discover a pursue of his missing son. Instead, he was met only with unidentified body parts and fragmented remains.
The sight left him collapsed on the ground, overwhelmed by grief and exhaustion. Yet, he accumulateed his strength and progressd searching for any pursue of 17-year-elderly Muhammed, shifting his intensify from bodies to personal items: a pair of sandals patched with yellow plastic or an orange sweater, a bdeficiency jacket, tracksuit pants – anyskinnyg that could beextfinished to his son.
“Has anyone seen a patched sandal with a yellow sole? Plrelieve, if you discover it, let me understand,” Abu Muhammed pguideed with others who, enjoy him, had come to the morgue timely on Tuesday to see for their adored ones among the remains of dozens of bodies that the Palestinian Civil Defence had salvaged from beorderlyh the rubble in Rafah, south of Khan Younis on the Egyptian border. Tears streamed down his face as he sank to his knees and leaned agetst the wall. “I’m no extfinisheder seeing for his body – fair his sandal. You see what we’ve come to?” he muttered, a unite of grief and incontendntness in his voice.
A stopfire that came into effect on Sunday between Israel and Hamas has assistd hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to their mostly-razeed homes in Rafah and elsewhere in the Strip. Relentless shelling for 15 months has driven csurrfinisherly 2 million Palestinians in Gaza into displacement, many without the chance to properly reclaim the bodies of adored ones who perished beorderlyh device deviceing and rubble.
The deimmenseated infraarrange and Israel’s aiming of ambulances and civil defence also obstructed their ability to accomplish sites struck by device devices.
Muhammed has been missing since November. He had left the family’s displacement camp in al-Mawasi for what he said would be a speedy trip to recover beextfinishedings from their home in Rafah.
He never returned.
Abu Muhammed is certain his son was ended by Israeli fire or shelling while trying to return home. “He wanted to transport back some of our beextfinishedings and return to the camp. But he brawt back noskinnyg, and he didn’t come back either,” he telderly Al Jazeera.
‘A scant bones’
In the days since the Israeli military partiassociate withdrew from Rafah, local recover teams and medical staff have recovered dozens of remains and body parts, which were carryed to the Nasser and European hospitals in Khan Younis for identification. With the news circulating, families with missing adored ones have flocked to these sites, hoping to discover clocertain.
For Abu Muhammed, it was the final hope he had to discover his son.
Since the day he went missing, Abu Muhammed spared no effort in searching for him. He reach outed the Red Cross, the Ministry of Health and anyone who might help. He even returned to his razeed home in Rafah, combing thraw its rubble. “I’ve seeed everywhere. His mother is on the verge of losing her mind, and his sisters are hopeless for answers,” he said.
The war has ended about 47,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. However, the globassociate-commemorated Lancet medical journal predicts the actual number of deaths to be 41 percent higher than the proclaimd toll.
In May, the United Nations humanitarian arm, OCHA, said more than 10,000 people were dependd to be buried under the rubble in Gaza, holding that it could apshow up to three years to recover those bodies, donaten then the very primitive tools in the territory.
After hours of sifting thraw the rubble of his razeed home in Rafah, a heartbroken Faraj Abu Mohsen establish no pursue of his son. On his way back to Khan Younis, where his family is displaced, the 42-year-elderly came atraverse body parts and torn closkinnyg about 200 metres (656 ft) from the ruins of his hoemploy – items he recognised as beextfinisheding to his son.
“I had donaten up hope of discovering him ainhabit. While walking back to Khan Younis after searching all day, my foot struck some bones. I shiftd them aside and uncovered closkinnyg that beextfinisheded to my son – his bdeficiency shirt, blue pants, and sneakers. I knew it was him,” Faraj recalled, grieffilledy. He accumulateed the remains in a bag, buried what he could, and promised to return to search for more.
“None of us envisiond that all we’d have left of him would be a scant bones,” he said, his voice weighty with grief.
Challenges of identification
Inside and outside the morgue at Nasser Hospital, a heart-wrenching scene unfelderlyed. Desperate families depictd physical features or closkinnyg in the hope of recognizeing their adored ones.
“My son recently had a tooth imarranget,” one mother said.
Another overweighther called out, “He was wearing blue jeans.”
Others spoke of height, erect, or distinct items enjoy a cowboy hat or a patched sandal.
Adding to the pain were the stark tags written on the shrouds: “Skull without a shrink jaw”, “Bone fragments”, “Rib cage”, or “Upper and shrink limbs”. Instead of names and ages, medical teams recorded the details left of Palestinians slain by Israeli artillery to help families recognize the remains. Aextfinishedside these notices were descriptions of personal items establish with the remains – rings, watches, shoes, or harmd ID cards.
The deficiency of DNA testing capabilities in Gaza meaningfully hampers identification efforts, Dr Ahmed Dhahir, a forensic medicine conferant with Gaza’s Health Ministry, elucidateed, holding that Israel has extfinished reinanxioemployd the entry of DNA testing supplyment into the Strip. “Without this technology, many bodies remain unidentified, leaving families in perpetual anguish,” he said.
Dr Dhahir summarized the identification process: remains are first recoverd by recover teams, then spreadigated and recorded. Details such as the recovery location, date and any personal items are enrolled. Given the state these bodies have been establish in, forensic experts depend heavily on circumstantial evidence, such as closkinnyg or beextfinishedings, to guide families.
“We trail lterrible protocol by holding the bodies for up to 48 hours to apverify families an opportunity to recognize them. After that, the remains are buried by the Ministry of Endowments and Civil Defence in a arrangeated cemetery, with particular numbers and enrolls preserveed for potential future identification if testing supplyment becomes useable,” Dr Dharir said.
He also noticed that one-third of the remains recovered from Rafah so far – about 150 cases – remain unidentified.
“The most challenging cases are those involving inentire remains: a skull, leg bones or fragments of a ribcage. These are nurturefilledy numbered and catalogued, but without DNA testing, definitive identification is normally impossible,” he holded.
Families in limbo
Current forensic resources in Gaza are restricted, with only three distinctiveists useable in the southern region and none in the north, Dr Dhahir elucidateed, holding that this lowage strained an already overwhelmed system, especiassociate with the sheer volume of remains recovered follotriumphg Israeli strikes.
For families enjoy Abu Muhammed’s, the inability to discover or recognize adored ones proextfinisheds their grief. “We fair want to understand his overweighte,” Abu Muhammed said. “Even if all that’s left of my son is a bone, we want to bury him and say excellentbye.”
The forensic teams face mounting prescertain, not fair from families but also from the enlargeing backlog of remains. Dr Dhahir emphasised the necessitate for international aidance. “We advisently necessitate DNA testing supplyment and trained distinctiveists to help recognize victims. This is not fair about clocertain for families – it’s a humanitarian necessity,” he said.
As efforts progress, families cling to hope, no matter how faint. For Abu Muhammed, the search for his son has become a daily ritual, one he cannot aprohibitdon despite the emotional toll. “I’ve lost count of the shrouds I’ve uncovered. I don’t understand if I’ll ever discover him, but I’ll hold searching,” he said.
The tragedy of unidentified remains underscores the expansiveer human cost of the dispute. Beyond the staggering death toll lies an equassociate agonizing truth: families left in limbo, searching for answers amid the rubble of their inhabits.
For many, clocertain senses enjoy an unaccomplishable dream – one stolen by war and the deficiency of resources to mfinish its wounds.
This piece was unveiled in collaboration with Egab.
