Families in Gaza were holding on to the slim chance of finding loved ones buried under the ruins of destroyed homes – but that hope is fading fast.
The destruction of key heavy machinery on Tuesday following reported Israeli airstrikes has brought rescue and recovery efforts to a standstill, making it even harder to reach the estimated 11,000 bodies still trapped under the debris.
According to local authorities, the strikes put a halt to all solid waste and debris removal operations, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists at a briefing in New York.
Until recently, bulldozers and other excavation equipment had been used in painstaking efforts to recover bodies from the wreckage.
One bulldozer operated by Atif Nasr – who before the war worked building and repairing roads – had become vital in the grim task of extracting the remains of loved ones from the rubble.
He was interviewed by a UN News correspondent in Gaza before the strike but now his grim but vital work has come to a standstill after his vehicle was destroyed.
