Nearly two years after an Israeli airstrike flattened a family home in southern Gaza, Civil Defense teams on Christmas Day pulled 25 bodies from beneath the rubble, including Palestinian journalist Heba Fouad Al-Abadla and her mother.
The bodies were unearthed in Khan Younis, where the Jan. 9, 2024, strike hit during one of the conflict’s most intense phases.
Al-Abadla, about 30 at the time of her death, was a presenter for Al-Azhar Radio, affiliated with Gaza’s Al-Azhar University, and a co-founder of Social Media Club-Palestine, a grassroots initiative that trained young journalists and content creators to amplify Palestinian voices online.
Her recovery piles upon the enduring humanitarian toll in Gaza, where thousands remain missing beneath wreckage.
Civil Defense crews, working with one or two functional excavators at most, rely heavily on hand tools and outdated equipment.
