Buried bodies, cleared rubble, Israel’s yellow line: How war is hampering the search for Gaza’s missing

Dusk had fallen in the northern Gaza neighborhood of Jabalya when an Israeli quadcopter broke the evening lull on November 1, 2024.

That evening, Mohammad Yousef Shalayel had settled into his in-laws’ home with his wife and children – after visiting 16 relatives displaced at his parents’ house nearby. He didn’t know that would be the last time they saw each other.

An “enormous explosion” rocked the area, “completely collapsing” the Shalayel house. When Shalayel returned to the site of the attack the next morning, “all four floors had fallen on top of one another, on the people who were inside,” he said.

Among them were his elderly mother, his two brothers and his sister, and their children and in-laws, too.

“I will never forget… I found dismembered remains of children and women,” he told CNN in late September. “I broke down, but I tried to hold myself together so that I could gather the pieces of flesh that were scattered around.”

Nearly two years later, Shalayel has been unable to return because the Israeli military has since occupied more than half of the shattered territory. He says almost all his family members remain unaccounted for.

Amid the ruins of Gaza, Palestinians say they are trying to survive a conflict with no clear end in sight.

Three years after Hamas and other militant groups killed around 1,200 people in Israel on October 7, 2023 – and a year after a US-brokered ceasefire was supposed to end the ensuing war in Gaza – Israeli strikes remain a near daily occurrence. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 74,000 people have been killed in the coastal enclave during the Israeli offensive. And the number may still rise significantly.

Some 8,000 people are reported missing, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense, most of whom are likely buried beneath what the United Nations estimated last year to be 61 million tonnes of rubble .

And with each day that passes, the chances of identifying the dead grow slimmer as “crucial evidence” is lost, said Pat Griffiths, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Jerusalem.

Under international humanitarian law, the parties to an armed conflict “have an obligation to conduct search and recovery work” for the remains of those killed, missing or injured, and to collect, preserve and transfer that information to the other side, Griffiths told CNN.

Under the October 2025 ceasefire plan, Israeli forces were instructed to withdraw to the “yellow line,” which demarcated occupied areas. That shifting demarcation zone has blocked Palestinians from accessing swathes of land where their loved ones could be buried under the rubble, residents and aid workers say.

Several people in Jabalya told CNN they witnessed the Israeli military demolishing mosques, homes and buildings or clearing rubble near the yellow line.

“Where are the bones of our loved ones?” asked one resident, Yahya Odeh. “Where are their bodies? There are entire families beyond the yellow line who have been separated from their relatives.”

In September, the UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, warned against the clearance of rubble in areas under Israeli military control “by bulldozers with no respect for the dead,” after Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, a Geneva-based NGO, reported that such activity could erase evidence of war crimes.

Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Türk said the recovery of “what appears to be entire families” from under the rubble in areas accessible to Palestinians highlights the need for evidence of possible war crimes to be preserved, and called for international investigators to be given access to all of Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israel’s restrictions on heavy machinery entering Gaza have prolonged recovery efforts in parts of the enclave where Israeli troops are not currently present, Palestinian officials say.

In August, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a 15-point plan laying out a pathway to long-term stability in Gaza, insisting Israel’s forces would not withdraw “until Hamas is genuinely disarmed.” The militant group in turn demanded that the Israeli military stop striking Gaza and pull back to the yellow line, as set out in the ceasefire plan .

Last year, an independent UN inquiry found Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, a finding rejected by the Israeli government.

In parts of Gaza accessible to Palestinians, Civil Defense members scour bombed-out homes for the remains of missing people.

Since last October, field crews have recovered around 1,000 bodies from the rubble, according to Mahmoud Basal, the Civil Defense spokesperson. But only one excavator is available in Gaza City, with another in central Gaza, said Basal, adding that operations could be “completed” if Israeli authorities were to provide the 10 excavators, 10 bulldozers and 30 trucks requested by Palestinian officials.

The Israeli aid agency tasked with facilitating the entry of aid into Gaza, COGAT, said Israel has allowed in “essential equipment” including engine oil, medical supplies and tents. However, COGAT insisted authorities would withhold heavy machinery and reconstruction materials until Hamas disarmed, according to Reuters.

Recovery efforts are made more dangerous by the presence of unexploded ordnance, said Griffiths. Many rescue workers are “literally scraping away, a few centimeters at a time,” he added.

When they do find buried Palestinians, some show signs of having been eaten by rodents or stray dogs , said Basal. Shalayel told CNN how he wrapped a blanket around his brother’s arm, which protruded from the rubble of their parents’ house, to try to protect it from an “enormous number” of roaming dogs. “It was a horrific sight,” he said.

“In the end, the family tries to comfort itself by believing that all of its relatives have been recovered from beneath the rubble,” Basal said. “But we cannot state (that) with certainty.”

Dr. Ahmad Dheir is one of only three remaining specialist forensic doctors in the enclave, he said.

Even before the war, doctors had no access to DNA testing facilities, Dheir said, after a years-long blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt limited the entry of medical supplies.

The slow eradication of Gaza’s medical infrastructure – following repeated Israeli strikes on health centers – has made medical workers even more reliant on elementary identification techniques, said Griffiths.

When rescue teams deliver unidentified bodies to hospitals, the lack of freezer storage, fuel shortages and frequent power cuts hasten the deterioration of samples, said Dheir.

With no DNA testing available, health workers have resorted to inconclusive blood typing and laboratory tests, condemning many relatives to a perpetual state of uncertainty, he said.

Suha al-Sharif’s son, Jihad, was supposed to care for his mother in old age. Instead, his absence is her only companion.

“When Jihad left, I realized that he was the one carrying me. He was my strength,” the 55-year-old told CNN.

Jihad, 33, was shot and killed on November 9, 2023 – when the family was displaced from Gaza City, Al-Sharif said. His body was taken to Al-Shifa Hospital, in the north, but Israel’s intensifying attacks meant health staffers could not bury people. Again, the family were forced to flee, journeying south. Nearly three years later, Al-Sharif has not been able to find him. “The hardest thing is that I couldn’t bury him; I don’t know where his body is,” she said.

“At night, when I put my head on my pillow, memories come back,” she added. “There is nothing left to cry for. My life feels over.”

Habboub Ramez/ABACA/Shutterstock

Her sense of dispossession reflects that of many survivors in Gaza. Palestinians whose relatives are still missing have been presenting signs of “ambiguous loss” – a situational disorder where people feel lost, unable to concentrate, anxious, depressive or guilty, two aid workers told CNN.

Some people pray, preserve photographs or loved ones’ belongings to “keep their memory alive,” according to Israa Alqahwaji, the mental health program coordinator in Gaza for the UK-based NGO Medical Aid for Palestinians. Wanting to find a person’s body “reflects a very deep human need for truth,” Alqahwaji said.

“Continuing to live does not mean abandoning or forgetting the person they have lost,” she added.

Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images

In Deir al-Balah a cemetery of the missing, as locals call it, has become a totem for the unknown fate of hundreds of Palestinians.

About 1,000 unidentified people have been buried there, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense. Authorities have been working with international aid agencies to build a digital information sharing system, ascribing serial numbers to unnamed graves so that if DNA testing becomes possible, loved ones may be able to identify their relatives in years to come.

“We believe these people and their families have a right, as a matter of human dignity, to find their loved ones,” said Dheir.

Shalayel hopes that one day he will find his family and lay them to rest with dignity. “For us, the people of Gaza, there is a well-known saying: Honoring the dead means burying them. Our religion, customs and traditions teach us that when someone dies, they should be buried, and their burial place should be known.”

Tareq El-Hilou, Muhammad Al-Sawalhi, Eyad Kourdi, Sarah-Grace Mankarious and Henry Zeris contributed reporting.

2024年11月1日，夜幕降临，加沙北部贾巴利亚社区一片寂静，一架以色列四旋翼无人机打破了夜晚的宁静。

那天晚上，穆罕默德·优素福·沙拉耶尔带着妻子和孩子回到岳父母家住下——此前他探望了住在附近父母家中的16位流离失所的亲戚。他当时并不知道，那竟是他们最后一次见面。

一声“巨大的爆炸”震动了该地区，“彻底摧毁”了沙拉耶尔的房子。沙拉耶尔说，第二天早上他回到袭击现场时，“四层楼全部坍塌，压在了里面的人身上。”

其中包括他年迈的母亲、他的两个兄弟和一个妹妹，以及他们的孩子和姻亲。

“我永远不会忘记……我发现了被肢解的儿童和妇女遗骸，”他在九月下旬告诉CNN。“我崩溃了，但我努力保持镇定，以便收集散落在周围的碎肉。”

近两年过去了，沙拉耶尔仍然无法返回家园，因为以色列军队已经占领了这片饱受战火蹂躏的土地的一半以上。他说，他的几乎所有家人都下落不明。

在加沙的废墟中，巴勒斯坦人表示，他们正努力在看不到尽头的冲突中生存下去。

2023年10月7日，哈马斯和其他武装组织在以色列境内杀害了约1200人。三年过去了，在美国斡旋下达成的停火协议本应结束加沙战争，但一年过去了，以色列的空袭仍然几乎每天都在发生。据巴勒斯坦卫生部统计，在以色列的进攻行动中，已有超过74000人在加沙地带丧生。而且，死亡人数可能还会大幅上升。

据加沙民防部门称，约有 8000 人失踪，其中大部分人可能被埋在联合国去年估计的 6100 万吨瓦砾之下。

红十字国际委员会耶路撒冷发言人帕特·格里菲斯表示，随着时间推移，辨认死者身份的机会越来越渺茫，因为“关键证据”正在丢失。

格里菲斯告诉 CNN，根据国际人道主义法，武装冲突各方“有义务对死者、失踪者或伤者的遗体进行搜寻和回收工作，并收集、保存和转移相关信息给对方”。

根据2025年10月的停火计划，以色列军队被指示撤退至“黄线”以内，这条黄线划定了被占领土的边界。居民和救援人员表示，这条不断变化的边界线阻碍了巴勒斯坦人进入大片土地，而他们的亲人可能就埋葬在废墟之下。

贾巴利亚的几位居民告诉 CNN，他们亲眼目睹以色列军队拆毁清真寺、房屋和建筑物，或者清理黄线附近的瓦砾。

“我们亲人的遗骸在哪里？”一位名叫亚希亚·奥德的居民问道，“他们的遗体在哪里？黄线以外有许多家庭与亲人失散了。”

9 月，联合国人权事务高级专员沃尔克·图尔克警告说，在以色列军事控制区内，“用推土机清理瓦砾而不尊重死者”，此前总部位于日内瓦的非政府组织“欧洲-地中海人权观察”报告称，这种行为可能会抹去战争罪行的证据。

Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Getty Images

图尔克表示，在巴勒斯坦人可以进入的地区，从废墟下找到“似乎是整个家庭”的遗体，凸显了保存可能存在的战争罪行证据的必要性，并呼吁允许国际调查人员进入加沙全境。

与此同时，巴勒斯坦官员表示，以色列对重型机械进入加沙的限制延长了以色列军队目前未进驻的加沙地带部分地区的灾后重建工作。

8月，以色列总理内塔尼亚胡拒绝了旨在实现加沙长期稳定的15点计划，并坚持以色列军队“在哈马斯真正解除武装之前”不会撤军。哈马斯则要求以色列军队停止对加沙的袭击，并按照停火计划的规定撤回黄线以内。

去年，联合国一项独立调查发现以色列在加沙犯下了种族灭绝罪，但以色列政府否认了这一调查结果。

在加沙地带巴勒斯坦人可以进入的部分地区，民防队员们在被炸毁的房屋中搜寻失踪者的遗骸。

据民防部门发言人马哈茂德·巴萨尔称，自去年10月以来，现场救援人员已从废墟中挖出约1000具遗体。巴萨尔表示，加沙城目前只有一台挖掘机，加沙中部也有一台。他还补充说，如果以色列当局能够提供巴勒斯坦官员要求的10台挖掘机、10台推土机和30辆卡车，救援行动就能“完成”。

负责协助援助物资进入加沙的以色列国防部下属机构COGAT表示，以色列已允许包括机油、医疗用品和帐篷在内的“必要设备”进入加沙。但据路透社报道，COGAT坚称，在哈马斯解除武装之前，当局将扣留重型机械和重建物资。

格里菲斯说，未爆弹药的存在使救援工作更加危险。他还补充说，许多救援人员“真的是一点一点地刮，每次只能刮掉几厘米”。

巴萨尔说，当他们找到被埋的巴勒斯坦人时，有些人的遗体上有被啮齿动物或流浪狗啃食的痕迹。沙拉耶尔告诉CNN，他用毯子裹住他哥哥从父母家废墟中伸出的手臂，试图保护它免受“数量众多”的流浪狗的侵害。“那景象太可怕了，”他说。

“最终，家属们只能安慰自己，相信所有亲人都已从废墟下获救，”巴萨尔说。“但我们无法肯定地说这一点。”

他说，艾哈迈德·迪尔医生是该飞地仅存的三位法医专家之一。

德尔说，即使在战争爆发之前，由于以色列和埃及实施了长达数年的封锁，限制了医疗用品的进入，医生们也无法获得 DNA 检测设施。

格里菲斯说，以色列不断袭击加沙的医疗中心，导致加沙的医疗基础设施逐渐被摧毁，这使得医务人员更加依赖于基本的识别技术。

德赫尔说，当救援队将身份不明的尸体送到医院时，由于缺乏冷冻储存设施、燃料短缺和频繁停电，导致样本加速变质。

他说，由于没有 DNA 检测手段，卫生工作者只能依靠无法得出结论的血型鉴定和实验室检测，这使得许多亲属长期处于不确定状态。

苏哈·沙里夫的儿子吉哈德本应在母亲年老时照顾她。然而，如今他的离去成了母亲唯一的陪伴。

“吉哈德离开后，我才意识到是他一直在支撑着我。他是我的力量源泉，”这位55岁的老人告诉CNN。

33岁的吉哈德于2023年11月9日遭枪击身亡。据阿尔-沙里夫说，当时他们一家正被迫离开加沙城。他的遗体被送往北部的希法医院，但由于以色列不断升级的袭击，医护人员无法进行安葬。一家人再次被迫逃亡，一路向南。近三年过去了，阿尔-沙里夫仍然没有找到他。“最痛苦的是我无法安葬他；我不知道他的遗体在哪里，”她说。

“夜里，当我枕着枕头，往事便涌上心头，”她补充道。“我已经没有什么可哭的了。我的生命感觉已经结束了。”

Habboub Ramez/ABACA/Shutterstock

她的失落感反映了许多加沙幸存者的感受。两名援助人员告诉CNN，那些亲人仍然下落不明的巴勒斯坦人表现出“模糊性丧失”的迹象——这是一种情境性障碍，患者会感到迷茫、无法集中注意力、焦虑、抑郁或内疚。

据总部位于英国的非政府组织“巴勒斯坦医疗援助组织”驻加沙心理健康项目协调员伊斯拉·阿尔卡瓦吉（Israa Alqahwaji）称，有些人会祈祷、保存照片或亲人的遗物，以“让他们的记忆永存”。阿尔卡瓦吉表示，想要找到逝者的遗体“反映了人类内心深处对真相的渴望”。

她补充说：“继续生活并不意味着抛弃或忘记他们失去的人。”

Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images

在代尔巴拉赫，当地人称之为“失踪者公墓”的地方，已成为数百名巴勒斯坦人下落不明的象征。

据加沙民防部门称，约有1000名身份不明者被埋葬在那里。当局一直在与国际援助机构合作，建立一个数字信息共享系统，为无名墓穴分配序列号，以便在未来DNA检测成为可能时，亲属能够辨认出他们的亲人。

“我们认为，从人类尊严的角度来看，这些人及其家人有权找到他们的亲人，”德赫尔​​说。

沙拉耶尔希望有一天能找到家人，让他们体面地入土为安。“对我们加沙人民来说，有一句众所周知的谚语：尊重逝者就是安葬他们。我们的宗教、习俗和传统教导我们，人死后就应该安葬，而且他们的墓地应该为人所知。”

Tareq El-Hilou、Muhammad Al-Sawalhi、Eyad Kourdi、Sarah-Grace Mankarious 和 Henry Zeris 也参与了报道。