Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Berri: It is our fate every Eid al-Adha to offer sacrifices in defense of Lebanon and its sovereignty, and the aggression will not prevent us from celebrating our holidays
Berri: Our positions must be unifying for all Lebanese in confronting the Israeli aggressiveness, which does not target a specific sect or region, but rather all of Lebanon and the Lebanese, and even Arabs and Muslims in their holiest sanctities
Speaker of the Parliament of Lebanon Nabih Berri: Our position regarding the continuous Israeli violation of Lebanon is identical to and adopts the position of the President of the Republic in all national and sovereign dimensions
Israeli raids strike eight residential buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs; shelling reported in Ain Qana, southern Lebanon
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Another Israeli airstrike targets Beirut’s southern suburb
Saree: The operation comes in solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian people and in response to the aggression against Beirut’s southern suburb
Yemeni Armed Forces spokesperson: The operation successfully achieved its objective, forcing millions of Israeli settlers to flee into shelters
Yemeni Armed Forces spokesperson Yahya Saree: We targeted Lod Airport (Ben Gurion Airport) in the occupied Yafa area with a hypersonic ballistic missile, the “Palestine 2” type
Salam: We call on the international community to hold "Israel" accountable, halt its attacks, and ensure full withdrawal from Lebanese territory
Salam: These attacks constitute a blatant violation of Lebanese sovereignty and UN Security Council Resolution 1701

Gaza's 'shadow death toll': Buried, missing, trapped under the rubble

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: News Websites
  • 23 Mar 2024 18:02
  • 7 Shares
4 Min Read

Gaza's death toll, currently surpassing 31,000 martyrs, excludes the thousands of missing people buried beneath the rubble.

  • x
  • Palestinians look at a residential building destroyed in an Israeli strike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, March 20, 2024. (AP)
    Palestinians look at a residential building destroyed in an Israeli strike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, March 20, 2024 (AP)

The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that the occupation committed 7 massacres in 24 hours, killing 72 and injuring 114. This brings the total number of Palestinians killed in the Israeli aggression on Gaza since October 7 to 32,142, in addition to 74,412 injuries.

It is noteworthy that numerous victims remain trapped under the rubble, presumed dead, as "Israel" prevents ambulance and civil defense crews from reaching them.

Gaza's "shadow death toll" consists of Palestinians trapped beneath the rubble and missing persons since October 7. Last updated, the number stood at 7,000 people in November. Since then, experts estimate that thousands more have been added to the toll. 

'Not bodies, but ashes' 

Testimonies reported by the New York Times paint a grim picture of what survivors of the occupation's brutal attacks have to endure during the brief moments of silence when "Israel" does not drop its bombs on civilians, schools, residential buildings, and protective shelters. 

The NYT reported incidents when men rushed to dig out their families from underneath the rubble when even bulldozers failed due to the amount of debris piled over. 

In between airstrikes and raids, small groups of rescue teams head to large piles of rubble that have accumulated more and more debris over the past six months, to try to find any survivors. Most of the time, what is found are the bodies of the martyrs killed by "Israel" days, weeks, and months ago. 

In November, Salem Qassem told the NYT that his family had been stuck under the rubble of their home in Beit Hanoun for forty days. He added that if the debris were to be lifted, he would only find their ashes. 

Related News

Resistance launch coordinated attacks on Israeli forces in Gaza

Russia condemns US veto of UN resolution calling for Gaza ceasefire

This also comes as a result of "Israel's" blockade on Gaza, which prohibited the entrance of heavy machinery that is typically used after an earthquake to lift the residues of rubble. This leaves Gaza with no way to lift all the destruction when many of its towns and neighborhoods have been pulverized. 

Ahmed Abu Shehab, a civil defense worker, said that only two excavators exist in Gaza. However, due to the magnitude of destruction, rescuers and civilians have been relying on shovels, drills, or their own hands. 

He recalled an incident when a three-story building had been targeted and destroyed, and by the time the excavator was able to reach the ground level to pull out Palestinians who were inside it, they had all died. 

Breaking: Horrifying footage captures the Israeli occupation army's bombing of Al-Helu Hospital, situated nust meters away from the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, earlier today. Patients and the injured are seen emerging from the rubble, their rooms collapsed around them! pic.twitter.com/8fGospS5IC

— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) March 23, 2024

Read more: Search for Hind comes to tragic end; found dead amid pile of bodies

IOF deliberately prevent rescue teams from mobilizing 

The Ministry of Health in Gaza consistently reiterates that "Israel" prevents rescue teams and ambulances from reaching the locations of the occupation's raids, leaving the martyred and the injured on the streets for days and more. 

Since mid-November, calls coming from northern Gaza and Gaza City, where Israeli occupation forces are intensively stationed, have flooded the Palestinian Red Crescent Society to inform them of trapped, missing, injured, and killed Palestinians and ask for their assistance. However, Nebal Fesakh, a spokesperson for the PRCS, said there was nothing they could do because the IOF would not permit their mobilizations. 

“Unfortunately, we just felt helpless because we were completely denied access to those areas,” she said. “Thousands of people are still stuck under the rubble, and now they’ve most probably died because it’s been so long.”

Moreover, PRCS announced two weeks ago that fourteen of its employees, whose current whereabouts are unknown, have been kidnapped and detained by the Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip.

In a post on X, the PRCS noted that "The Israeli occupation continues to detain 14 PRCS members, whose whereabouts remain unknown. Their families and colleagues are deeply concerned for their safety, as there are reports of torture and humiliation based on testimonies from released colleagues."

  • Palestine
  • Israeli aggression
  • IOF
  • Israel
  • Israeli occupation
  • Gaza
War on Gaza

War on Gaza

Most Read

Lebanon's PM Nawaf Salam meets with US envoy Morgan Ortagus in Beirut on April 5, 2025 (Dalati Nohra via AP)AP)

Morgan Ortagus to exit US role in Lebanon amid policy shift

  • Politics
  • 1 Jun 2025
A Palestinian woman mourns as she embraces the body of her daughter Mayar Abu Odeh, 8, who was killed in an Israeli army strike on Gaza. at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (AP)

French port workers block arms shipment to 'Israel' amid Gaza genocide

  • Politics
  • 4 Jun 2025
It may well be due to the longstanding relationship between MI6 and HTS, via Inter Mediate, that Britain was the first Western country to recognise their assumption of government in Syria. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab El-Hajj)

How MI6 helped HTS seize Syria

  • Opinion
  • 31 May 2025
Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP)

Boston Consulting Group withdraws from GHF

  • Palestine
  • 3 Jun 2025

Coverage

All
War on Gaza

Read Next

All
Poll
Palestine

Sharp decline in international perception of 'Israel', Netanyahu: Poll

Ukrainian soldiers with the anti-drone KVS G-6, manufactured by Kvertus Technology.Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine/Facebook
US & Canada

Shift in US priorities: Drone fuzes reallocated from Kiev to CENTCOM

US Jews accuse Trump of antisemitism despite his pro-'Israel' stance
US & Canada

US Jews accuse Trump of antisemitism despite his pro-'Israel' stance

Former US President Joe Biden speaks from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Sept. 30, 2024 (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)
US & Canada

Trump orders investigation into Biden’s autopen use, cognitive fitness

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS