Gaza authorities say 112 bodies found in rubble

Gaza's civil defence agency said Saturday it had recovered the remains or body parts of 112 people from rubble in Sabra, a neighbourhood in southern Gaza City.

The agency, which operates as a rescue service under Hamas, said the remains were found after 136 hours of digging, largely by hand. It said they included 40 children, 38 women and seven people who had physical disabilities.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it supported the operation, which took place over nearly two weeks. Amani Al-Naouq, an ICRC spokesperson in Gaza, said the search for missing people and the recovery of human remains was a critical humanitarian issue.

Colonel Mohammed Abu Dan, who is in charge of the site for the civil defence agency, said teams had not yet found 157 other bodies believed to be under the rubble there.

Thousands of people's remains are still unaccounted for in Gaza, many believed to have been buried under rubble from Israeli air strikes. Restrictions on media access in Gaza prevent AFP from independently verifying tolls or freely covering the violence.

The Hamas-run health ministry has confirmed more than 73,300 deaths in the war, figures the United Nations considers reliable. The war began after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,221 people and taking 251 hostages into Gaza.