Emergency workers uncover dozens of bodies in a Gaza City district after Israeli assault

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip â€”  Civil defense workers on Friday dug bodies out of collapsed buildings and pulled them off rubble-covered streets, as they collected dozens of Palestinians killed this week by an Israeli assault in a district of Gaza City.

The discovery of the bodies came after Israeli troops reportedly pulled out of parts of the Tal al-Hawa and Sanaa neighborhoods following days of bombardment and fighting there. The Israeli military launched an incursion into the districts earlier this week to fight what it said were Hamas militants who had regrouped.

The grisly scenes of the dead being brought into a nearby hospital underscored the horrifying cycle nine months into the Israel-Hamas war.

After invading nearly every urban area across the tiny territory since October, Israeli forces are now repeatedly re-invading parts as Hamas shifts and maintains capabilities. Palestinians are forced to flee over and over to escape the changing offensives — or to remain in place and face death. Cease-fire negotiations push ahead, nearing but never reaching a deal.

Videos circulating on social media showed civil defense workers wrapping bodies, including several women, in blankets on the rubble-strewn streets of Tal al-Hawa and Sanaa. A hand poked out of the smashed concrete where workers dug into a collapsed building. Other video showed burned-out buildings.

About 60 bodies have been found so far, including entire families who appeared to have been killed by artillery fire and aerial bombardment, Mahmoud Bassal, the director of civil defense in Gaza said. Some bodies had been partially devoured by dogs, he said.

“There are homes that we cannot reach, and there are those who were burned inside their homes,� he said, noting many of those who were killed had left nearby shelters after being ordered to evacuate.

The director of nearby Al-Ahli Hospital, Fadel Naem, said dozens of bodies found in the districts had been brought to the facility, though he didn’t have a precise number.

The Israeli military said it could not comment on the discovery of the bodies. Israel’s assault on the district began earlier this week after it issued an evacuation order for the area on Monday. In a statement Friday, the military said its troops targeted the abandoned headquarters compound of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, where it said Hamas had set up operations.

UNRWA abandoned the compound in October, early in the war. The military said Friday that troops had battled Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters in the compound and discovered material for building drones as well as stashes of weapons. It issued photos of some of the discovered material, though the claims could not be independently confirmed.

The scenes in Tal al-Hawa mirrored those in another Gaza City neighborhood, Shijaiyah, from which Israeli troops also withdrew in recent days after more than two weeks of waging an offensive. Civil defense workers on Thursday reported finding around 60 bodies in Shijaiyah, with more believed to be buried under the rubble.

Most of the population of Gaza City and the surrounding areas in the north fled earlier in the war. But the U.N. estimates that some 300,000 people remain in the north. With each new assault, people often flee to other parts of the north, since so far Israel has not allowed those who flee south to return to the north.

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250.

Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 38,300 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. It does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. More than 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes, and most are now crowded into squalid tent camps, facing widespread hunger.

Meanwhile in Cairo, mediators continue to push to narrow gaps between Israel and Hamas over a proposal deal that would include a cease-fire and hostage release in Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Thursday that Israel would send a delegation for further talks as U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators attempt to seal an agreement.

Obstacles remain, however. Hamas insists that talks continue until a permanent cease-fire is reached while Netanyahu says Israel won’t agree to any deal that would stop its military campaign before Hamas is eliminated.

Netanyahu is under growing pressure both domestically and internationally. Large segments of the Israeli population are demanding an agreement to release the hostages after nine months of war, though Netanyahu has insisted that the offensive won’t end until Israel achieves its goal of eliminating Hamas.

Relatives of hostages are marching to Jerusalem to demand a deal and the release of their loved ones as Israeli politicians, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, call for a broad government investigation into the conduct of Israel’s leaders.

A risk of regional escalation remains. Israel’s military said Friday one of its soldiers was killed in combat in northern Israel as the country’s army and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah continue to trade cross-border fire. The Iranian-backed group and Israel have been trading near-daily exchanges of fire, with Hezbollah saying it is striking Israel in solidarity with Hamas and would stop its attacks once there is a cease-fire in Gaza.

President Biden at a news conference Thursday talked about disappointment and frustration with the war and Israel’s government, pointing to the increasing hopes of a cease-fire.

Biden said Israel and Hamas had now both agreed to the broad terms of a deal to pause fighting and free hostages, which he said made prospects brighter. Mediators were helping to fill in the gaps in the agreement, he said.

Shurafa writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Sam Metz contributed from Rabat, Morocco, and Jack Jeffery from Ramallah, West Bank.