In Gaza City, members of the Al-Drimli family are painstakingly searching for the remains of a neighbor amidst the debris of their former home. Armed with shovels, buckets, and a wheelbarrow, they toil under the scorching sun, the only sounds being the clang of shovels against rubble and the hum of an electric saw.
The family had already located the bodies of their loved ones at the site but are now focused on finding their neighbor, who was with them when the building was struck in November 2023. The Gaza Health Ministry estimates that around 8,000 to 10,000 bodies are still trapped under the rubble nearly three years after the conflict between Israel and Hamas began.
With a severe shortage of excavators in Gaza, many Palestinians like the Al-Drimli family resort to manual labor due to the high cost and scarcity of heavy machinery. According to Ayman Al-Drimli, the expense and lack of available equipment make it necessary for them to rely on their hands and basic tools for the search efforts.
The scarcity of functional excavators in the region is a significant challenge. Samir Sabra and his son, Uday Sabra, operate two of the few excavators left in Gaza. The costs of fuel alone make it difficult for them to sustain their operations, as they struggle to keep up with the demand for their services.
Despite the ceasefire agreement last year, there has been little improvement on the ground in terms of access to heavy machinery for clearing debris. Mahmoud Basal of the Palestinian Civil Defence emphasizes that the limited availability of excavators is a direct result of the targeting of such equipment during the conflict.
Uday Sabra, along with other volunteers, continues to dig through the rubble, acknowledging the monumental task ahead to recover the remains. The ongoing border restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities on essential supplies like fuel and spare parts further hinder the efforts to access and operate heavy machinery effectively in Gaza.
As Uday perseveres in his search for the missing neighbor, the challenges of clearing the rubble and providing closure to the families of the deceased remain daunting in the war-torn region.