Hospitals across the Gaza Strip received 63 martyrs and 39 injured individuals in the past 24 hours, according to medical sources. Among the martyrs, 60 were recovered from under the rubble.

Rescue efforts remain hindered, as civil defense and ambulance teams struggle to reach victims still trapped beneath destroyed buildings and in the streets due to severe infrastructure damage.

Since the start of the Israeli aggression on October 7, 2023, the total number of casualties has climbed to 67,869 martyrs and 170,105 wounded. The toll is expected to rise as search and recovery operations continue under difficult and dangerous conditions.

Gaza families return to ruins, searching for their loved ones

As a fragile ceasefire takes hold in Gaza, families have begun returning to what remains of their neighborhoods, many with the painful mission of recovering the bodies of loved ones still buried beneath collapsed buildings.

Among them is Ghali Khadr, who, according to a report by The Guardian, had spent two days trying to convince his parents to evacuate to southern Gaza. His father refused, unwilling to leave the family home. Days later, an Israeli airstrike destroyed the building, killing Khadr's parents. 

On Sunday, Khadr returned to the site of the airstrike in Jabaliya to search the debris for any trace of his mother and father. After hours of digging through shattered concrete and twisted rebar, he found only fragments of their remains. "My father, a retired ambulance driver, was known for his strong will and patience. He did not know fear and was always optimistic," Khadr, 40, told The Guardian.

He carried what was left of their bodies to the local cemetery, only to find it had also been destroyed. Left with no other option, he buried his parents beside the few graves still intact.

Khadr, The Guardian wrote, is one of thousands returning to northern Gaza following the pause in fighting. Many are on similar searches for relatives presumed dead after months of Israeli bombardment.

Gaza's civil defence agency estimates roughly 20,000 people remain trapped under the wreckage of destroyed homes and buildings. The ceasefire has given emergency teams a brief opportunity to begin the enormous task of locating the dead and offering families a chance at closure.