DaysofPal- UN Assistant Secretary-General Tom Fletcher has warned that a “massive effort” is urgently needed to recover thousands of bodies still trapped beneath the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza, describing the task as “beyond the capacity of any single organization.”
Fletcher said the scale of devastation in Gaza is staggering, with entire neighborhoods flattened and families still buried under the ruins.
“The amount of debris and destruction makes search and recovery operations extremely complex,” he explained, adding that the process requires heavy equipment that the Israeli occupation continues to restrict from entering the enclave.
He emphasized that the recovery of bodies must be treated as a purely humanitarian issue and integrated into the obligations of any ceasefire agreement.
“This is about dignity, not politics,” Fletcher said.
The United Nations has made the entry of rescue equipment a top priority in its humanitarian plan, which also aims to address the severe shortages facing Gaza’s hospitals.
Medical facilities are struggling with acute shortages of fuel, medicine, and essential equipment, while thousands of children wait to return to school amid widespread destruction.
Fletcher noted that much of Gaza has been “leveled to the ground,” and the humanitarian situation is “beyond imagination.”
To meet the growing needs, the UN estimates that thousands of trucks per week are required to deliver food, medical supplies, and educational materials.
As part of its 60-day emergency plan, the UN intends to bring in thousands of truckloads of humanitarian aid in the coming weeks and support the operation of local bakeries to produce hundreds of thousands of loaves of bread daily, thanks to renewed access to flour and fuel.
Fletcher concluded by stressing that without immediate international coordination and access to heavy equipment, thousands of victims may remain trapped indefinitely, turning Gaza’s ruins into “a silent testimony to humanity’s failure to act in time.”
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