Skeletons in their clothing: Recovering bodies from the rubble in Gaza

A neighborhood of Beit Lahia was destroyed in Israeli strikes in October 2024, including a strike on a building that killed 132 members of the extended Abu Naser family. Anas Baba/NPR hide caption toggle caption Anas Baba/NPR Editor's note: This story contains descriptions of human remains. BEIT LAHIA, Gaza Strip — An Israeli drone buzzes over a sea of debris in northern Gaza, where homes were turned into mass graves. This is where a recovery crew has carried out one of its first missions to unearth bodies buried deep under rubble — at the site of one of the deadliest Israeli strikes of the Gaza war. The strike destroyed a five-story apartment building in late October 2024, killing more than 132 members of the extended Abu Naser family sheltering inside, an NPR investigation documented . "We've been dreaming every day of the moment we could recover the martyrs, honor them, and bury them," said Ola Abu Naser, a 30-year-old survivor. "Every day we felt as if they were calling us, saying: 'We are here.'" About 8,000 bodies are believed to still be buried under debris throughout Gaza, according to Gaza's health ministry. NPR documented the three-day recovery mission at the site of the Abu Naser family massacre. Only one digger to recover bodies in Gaza White body bags hold the remains of people recovered from the rubble of an apartment building destroyed by an Israeli strike. …