What are the main obstacles to reaching the thousands of bodies under the rubble of Gaza?

The remains of thousands of victims in the Gaza Strip are still under the rubble due to the inability of local recovery teams to work in targeted areas during the war, and because of the absence of heavy machinery and the Israeli occupation's prevention of its entry.

A report has documented the details of nearly 10,000 bodies remaining under the rubble of buildings and facilities destroyed by Israeli fighter jets during the genocide against the Gaza Strip, with families buried under the rubble along with their names, life details, and memories.

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip estimates that more than 10,000 bodies are still under the rubble or are missing, whether they were alive or dead.

Amid the Israeli military operations and systematic destruction, the intervention and recovery devices in the sector have lost the logistical capacity to operate in aerial targeting areas.

The Government Media Office in Gaza estimates the volume of rubble in the sector at more than 60 million tons, and it is likely that the areas with high destruction density have buried the majority of the victims beneath them.

Unexploded ordnance adds to the complexities of recovering bodies from under the rubble.

United Nations data estimates that nearly 7,000 tons of unexploded ordnance contaminate areas of the sector, which itself poses a direct danger to search and recovery teams and to the remains as well.

While Israel obstructs the entry of necessary machinery to recover the remains of Palestinian victims from under the rubble, the search process with primitive tools becomes futile.

Even if any remains are found, the means of identifying them through DNA testing will not be available, as this technology is not available in the forensic laboratories in the sector and Israel prevents its entry.

The report indicates that these combined factors will turn the task of recovering victims from under the rubble into a long-term nightmare with uncertain endings.