UN: Gaza has 61m tonnes of rubble, clearance may expose up to 10,000 bodies

newsSep 27, 202617795

UN aid workers say removing an estimated 61 million tonnes of rubble across the Gaza Strip could uncover as many as 8,000 to 10,000 buried bodies, the UN Development Programme's special representative Jaco Cilliers told reporters. The UN estimates the 61 million tonnes is roughly 20 times the amount of rubble generated in all wars worldwide over the past 18 years. Clearing the debris could take at least seven to 10 years and cost billions of dollars, making it one of the largest rubble-clearance operations in modern history. So far about 907,000 tonnes have been removed and more than 300,000 tonnes recycled, about 1.5% of the total; teams have cleared 580 km of roads to allow aid movement. Clearance work is hazardous, with unexploded ordnance, sewage flows from damaged drainage and displaced families still living in unstable buildings, and the UN says Israeli restrictions on importing heavy equipment are hampering progress. World Food Programme engineer Ahmed Alyan described the effort as feeling "as if we are holding a spoon and trying to empty the sea." The scale, danger and access limits mean the operation will be prolonged and will expose human remains and unexploded bombs as rubble is shifted.

News Eye

@newseye.bsky.social

Google has started updating satellite images of Gaza. Holocaust. (📸 Barry Andrews MEP, European Parliament)

A single building is left standing amidst utter carnage. Every single building has been levelled across a few square miles pictures. Google maps identified one pile of rubble as a school.

56012d ago

Paul Jacin13

Shite. The Israelis better not see this. There's still a building standing.

Maryanna10

So many deny this. I don’t know how or why. They’re on the wrong side of history.

Carole Flint 🇪🇺🏳️‍🌈10

That is what extreme ethnic cleansing and genocide look like.

Blue-Eyed Samurai9

What the f**k they done... There's no recovery from this. There's no a sanction in the world that's going to save them now. And even then... It runs so much deeper than just the immature, dismissive leadership.

Triplism7

this breaks my heart. i cant help but think of the people building these structures in blazing heat. thousands and thousands of hours of toiling turned into rubble. homes, shops, places for life obliterated. true evil

CRUISE SHIP DRUMMER!™7

the whole fucking southern part of the map is 99+% pure rubble www.google.com/maps/place/G...

Quoting this

sabrina, uncluttered17

what is to be done?

Amit Rao12

This is absolutely awful and saddening to see

🏳️‍⚧️ ⛧ Nɯvꝡɩɛl ⛧ 🏳️‍⚧️8

🦇 What the fuuuuuuuuuuck. There needs to be tribunals for this. Like everywhere. Everyone in a position of power that aided this or refused to intervene. All of them. Tribunals. Palestinians need help. Please help any that you see asking for aid.

Dr Nathan Kilah7

Seriously - just go to Google maps, search for Gaza, swap to satellite view and just have a scroll around. Witness the destruction.

Joe 🏳️‍🌈 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪☘️6

I’m sure the IDF and that dumbo eared cunt will be back to level the rest just in case the imaginary terrorists are hiding in that tiny building that’s left. And the world is doing nothing. “Oh let’s walk out of the UN” yeah that’ll show the NAZI cunts.

Will Thompson4

Posting this without comment, only tears.

Patrick Reinsborough ❌👑3

REMINDER: Both major American political parties are directly complicit in Israel's genocide in #Gaza. We must end US military aid to Israel. No elected official, regardless of party, who supported this should ever be allowed to hold a government position again.

Jan Coenen2

Genocide en holocaust mogen we het naar het schijnt niet noemen. Totale vernieling en massamoord dan?

Alramogar2

Si aumentas para ver el detalle, todo es destrucción, mires donde mires.

Anna Orridge

@anna-orridge.bsky.social

Waseem: "Gaza has paid the price of war with our homes and our children’s childhoods. 💔 We live among the rubble and sorrow, and we need your support to keep going and provide our family with the most basic necessities. 🙏🇵🇸 Your donation or share can make a difference." gofund.me/35fdca7d

Pictures of Waseem and his sons, mostly with rubble or ruins in the background.

3613d ago

PEIPolitical 🇨🇦

@peipolitical.bsky.social

Genocide! Ethnic cleansing! An Israeli soldier films the extent of the destruction and rubble. Gaza was razed to the ground, leaving no homes standing, and entire families were killed, leaving no one alive. #cdnpoli

4513d ago

cms45.bsky.social4

There will never be peace in the Middle East. Israel did this with American bombs.

RotorRat(bat for september)3

This is the shit nazis do to the world. Stop letting nazis exist

Josie Glausiusz

@josiegz.bsky.social

“I feel as if we are holding a spoon and trying to empty the sea,” said Ahmed Alyan, a UN engineer. 61m tonnes of rubble: Gaza aid workers face delicate task of clearing ruins concealing up to 10,000 bodies www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

3413d ago

Paul Eric

@pauleric70.bsky.social

One of the most devastating scenes from Gaza. An Israeli soldier films a landscape of destruction—homes reduced to rubble, entire neighborhoods erased, and families torn apart. This is what the world must never forget.💔😢💔😢

3213d ago

Quoting this

Steve Moskal16

Only industrial level genocide could achieve this

Digital Relic 🌀9

This is Genocide & Ethnic Cleansing. The Netanyahu government is restricting aid and essential supplies, making it increasingly impossible for Palestinians to survive in Gaza, effectively forcing people to leave or face conditions that threaten their lives. @cnn.com @cbsnews.com

Wendy the Woke

@nomorex61.bsky.social

“The estimate of the total amount of rubble in Gaza is 61m tonnes. It is approximately 20 times the amount of rubble generated in all wars across the world over the last 18 years,” Senseless death & destruction,we must quit electing men who do this.. #Sheshed www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

2312d ago

alexvonwitzleben.bsky.social

@alexvonwitzleben.bsky.social

The UN estimates that removing the bulk of the rubble in the #GazaStrip could take at least seven to 10 yrs and cost $ billions making the removal of war debris one of the largest rubble-clearance operations in modern history www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s... #BenjaminNetanyahu #WarCriminal

1012d ago

Charles Keener

@charleskeener.bsky.social

More than a year ago, two Australian charities donated more than 900 all-terrain wheelchairs specifically for use by amputee children to move around in the rubble of Gaza. Israel has vilely blocked their entry into the Strip, claiming they are “dual-use” instruments.

1013d ago

Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights

@lphr-lawyers.bsky.social

‘The presence of human remains still buried under the rubble remains one of the most urgent humanitarian issues in Gaza. According to estimates cited by the UNDP, between 8,000 and 10,000 bodies may still be buried.’ www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

612d ago

Andy Scollick

@andyscollick.bsky.social

Gaza is a mass grave, dug and filled by the national football team that Ireland is playing this evening in Hungary.

913d ago

kaybell27.bsky.social

@kaybell27.bsky.social

The true horror of Gaza, a genocide too many of our leaders ignore.

713d ago

Ian Moody

@ianmoody.bsky.social

61m tonnes of rubble: Gaza aid workers face delicate task of clearing ruins concealing up to 10,000 bodies. Removal of war debris, in which lives, memories and unexploded Israeli bombs lie buried, is one of largest clearance operations in modern history. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

413d ago

Mike Bailey

@linusd.bsky.social

Using a spoon to empty the ocean. Rubble clearance in Gaza under continuing Israeli restrictions. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

313d ago

David

@daverino.bsky.social

“Along with..explosives, rubble may contain other hazardous materials, including asbestos..damaged buildings pose another risk. The presence of human remains..remains the most urgent issue. According to estimates between 8K & 10K bodies may still be buried” www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

413d ago

John Munro

@johnmunro.bsky.social

Because Israel won't allow skateboards to enter Gaza, skaters there have been digging through the rubble of their destroyed homes, trying to find boards and other equipment. This, too, is resistance to genocide.

613d ago

1 source

theguardian.com61m tonnes of rubble: Gaza aid workers face delicate task of clearing ruins concealing up to 10,000 bodies

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UN: Gaza has 61m tonnes of rubble, clearance may expose up to 10,000 bodies

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