At least 60 bodies found under rubble after IOF withdrew from Shujaiya
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The count is expected to increase as civil defense medics arrive in al-Shujaiya to uncover the damage after the IOF withdrew.
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A Palestinian boy wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip is treated in a hospital in Khan Younis, Tuesday, July 9, 2024. (AP)
At least 60 bodies were found under the rubble in the al-Shujaiya district after a two-week Israeli invasion of the neighborhood, Gaza's Civil Defense agency confirmed on Thursday.
The agency's spokesperson Major Mahmoud Bassal said, "Once the Israeli occupation forces withdrew from the Shujaiya neighborhood, civil defense crews, with local residents, managed to recover about 60 martyrs up to now."
Just hours after the two-week offensive on the al-Shujaiya district ended, Palestinians headed to the area looking for missing loved ones, and they were surprised to find the area in ruins.
Al-Shujaiya had become a ghost town.
Some 85 percent of buildings are now "uninhabitable" and al-Shujaiya has been turned into a "disaster zone", Bassal added, estimating that 120,000 people had been left homeless.
Fierce resistance
Israeli occupation forces struggled to maintain a foothold in the small neighborhood of al-Shujaiya before withdrawing on Wednesday.
Rescue helicopters were seen landing near the neighborhood to transport Israeli casualties on multiple occasions in the past two days, marking the potency of al-Shujaiya fighters' operations.
Read more: Palestinian Resistance ambushes in Gaza, forced evacuations in Rafah
Not one area "Israel' invades is left in one piece. Once IOF troops withdraw, all that is left is destroyed houses, charred and decomposed bodies, scattered belongings, and homes of families that once were there.
Back in June, after the IOF withdrew from the Jabalia refugee camp, the total number of bodies recovered was over 120 after a 20-day concentrated offensive involving around 200 airstrikes.
At the time, Palestinian authorities reported that the offensive destroyed 70% of Jabalia, Gaza's largest refugee camp, housing over 100,000 Palestinians. Returning Palestinians described the area as "unrecognizable" due to the extensive destruction caused by the Israeli aggression, as reported by various news outlets.
Concurrently, shocking images circulated widely on social media, revealing the grim aftermath of Israeli forces' 20-day assault on Jabalia. Skeletal remains, burned bodies, and reports of beheaded children have surfaced, painting a harrowing picture of the devastation left in the wake of the Israeli invasion.
