Bodies found scattered across Gaza city after Israeli troop withdrawal

Gaza's civil defence officials report 'tragic' scenes as recovery of corpses under way

Smoke rises as the Israeli military continues its offensive in Gaza City, on Thursday. EPA

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Emergency teams began to retrieve the bodies of Palestinians killed in violence on Friday, after Israeli forces partially withdrew from Gaza city.

Scores of corpses were found scattered on the streets, Gaza's civil defence said.

About 60 bodies were recovered from the districts of Tal Al Hawa and Al Sinna, civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said, describing the scenes left behind as “tragic”.

“Our teams have moved to begin the operations of recovering the martyrs from the Tal Al Hawa and Al Sinna area, and there is a retreat of the army up to Street 8,” he said.

The Israeli military had told civilians to leave Tal Al Hawa and nearby areas on Monday, warning that its troops would be carrying out operations in the area, before expanding its evacuation order to most of Gaza city a day later.

“The scene in the area is difficult and so tragic,” Mr Bassal added.

Palestinians also returned to scenes of destruction in Gaza city's district of Shujaiya after Israeli troops withdrew following a two-week offensive there.

At least three Palestinians, including an infant, were killed in an Israeli air strike in central Gaza, the Wafa news agency reported on Friday.

The attack hit a house in Nuseirat camp, also wounding several people, including a girl who is in a serious condition, the report said. The injured were taken to Al Awda hospital at Nuseirat camp.

The Israeli army said on Friday that troops are continuing operations in Rafah in southern Gaza, where it said it had “eliminated numerous terrorists in close-quarters combat and aerial strikes” and dismantling infrastructure in the area.

It added on Friday that troops are also operating in central Gaza, where a weapons production workshop as well as a large amount of funds used for “terrorist” activity were found.

Israel launched the war in Gaza after Hamas' October 7 attack in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 captive.

Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 38,300 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.

Ceasefire talks

The latest strikes comes as US President Joe Biden called for an end to the war and as efforts to secure a truce continue.

Two sources involved in the process told The National on Thursday that Hamas and Israel had made “significant concessions” during the intense talks in recent days.

The two sides had reached a “framework agreement” for a ceasefire that would stop the devastating war, but cautioned that timelines and many “intricate details” had yet to be ironed out, the sources added.

Israel will send a delegation to Cairo for further talks with mediators on a proposed deal with Hamas for a ceasefire and hostage release, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. The latest Israeli offensive could be aimed at increasing pressure on the militant group amid the truce negotiations.

Mr Biden said on Thursday he was disappointed that some of his plans to get aid into Gaza had not been more successful.

“I’ve been disappointed that some of the things that I’ve put forward have not succeeded as well, like the [floating pier] we attached,” he said at a news conference.

“I was hopeful that would be more successful.”

He also said Israel had not always co-operated when it came to allowing more food and aid into Gaza.

“I met with most of the Arab leaders to try to get a consensus going as to what had to be done to deal with getting more aid and food and medicine into the Gaza Strip. And we pushed it really hard, and Israel occasionally was less than co-operative,” Mr Biden said.

Israeli restrictions, fighting and the breakdown of law and order have limited humanitarian aid efforts, causing widespread hunger and sparking fears of famine. The top UN court has ordered Israel to take steps to protect Palestinians as it examines genocide allegations against Israeli leaders. Israel denies the charge.