In Gaza City, members of the Al-Drimli family are engaged in a painstaking search for the remains of their friend and neighbor amidst the debris of their former residence. Armed with only shovels, buckets, and a wheelbarrow, they toil under the scorching sun, the clatter of shovels against rubble and the hum of an electric saw echoing around them.
The men load the wheelbarrow with debris and transport it to a nearby heap, a small effort in the face of the vast piles of shattered cinder blocks and twisted metal bars left behind by an airstrike that struck the six-story building in November 2023.
Having already retrieved the remains of their loved ones, the Al-Drimli family now seeks to locate a neighbor who was present during the building’s destruction. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 bodies remain buried under the rubble nearly three years after the conflict between Israel and Hamas began.
Ayman Al-Drimli explained to freelance videographer Mohamed El Saife that due to the high cost and scarcity of equipment, they rely on manual labor. Officials and equipment operators in Gaza reveal that there are only about a dozen operational excavators in the region, with maintenance challenges exacerbated by a lack of spare parts, oil, and fuel.
Samir Sabra and his son, Uday Sabra, operate two of the few excavators in Gaza. Samir highlighted the exorbitant cost of running the machinery, emphasizing the scarcity of maintenance resources. Uday, laboring at a separate site alongside the Palestinian Civil Defence volunteers, expressed the overwhelming demand for their services due to the large number of casualties trapped under debris.
Civil Defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal attributed the shortage of excavators to deliberate strikes during the conflict, impeding the recovery efforts. Despite the ceasefire agreement’s provisions for increased heavy equipment access, the situation on the ground remains unchanged.
Humanitarian organizations lament that Israeli restrictions on essential supplies such as fuel and spare parts hinder machinery maintenance, delaying the recovery of remains. While the Israeli Defence Forces cite security concerns for their stringent entry policies, the affected communities face prolonged suffering and continued challenges in the arduous recovery process.
In Gaza City, Uday Sabra persists in his excavation work, committed to providing closure to families and honoring the deceased by recovering their remains.