Palestinian Civil Defense teams recovered the remains of 40 martyrs from Sheikh Radwan Cemetery in Gaza City on Tuesday, after parts of the cemetery were bulldozed and excavated by Israeli occupation forces during their ground incursions into the area.
In a statement, the Civil Defense said that the remains were transferred from the eastern side of the cemetery with the participation of forensic and medical examiners, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Religious Endowments and Affairs, in preparation for completing the examination and identification procedures for the victims.
The statement explained that the bulldozing of the cemetery resulted in the remains being unearthed and mixed together, necessitating their transfer to the relevant authorities for examination and identification.
For his part, Abdullah al-Majdalawi, Director of Public Relations and Media for the Civil Defense in Gaza Governorate, confirmed that the teams are facing significant challenges in identifying the recovered remains, explaining that most of what was found consists of decomposed body parts and skeletons belonging to martyrs, including children and the elderly. Al-Majdalawi pointed out that the digging and bulldozing operations have obliterated the features of many graves and mixed the remains, which increases the suffering of families seeking to know the fate of their relatives and document their identities, asking: “How can names turn into numbers?” in reference to the magnitude of the human tragedy left by these practices.
