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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Seham Tantesh in Gaza City

61m tonnes of rubble: Gaza aid workers face delicate task of clearing ruins concealing up to 10,000 bodies

Small child and yellow bulldozer with collapsed buildings in backdrop and rebar in foreground
A child watches a bulldozer on Beirut street in Gaza City, once a busy area that now lies in ruins. Photograph: Amjed Tantesh/The Guardian

It took all day to clear a section of road in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood in Gaza City. At the end of it, Ahmed Alyan, a UN engineer, was exhausted, surrounded by mountains of rubble despite the day’s work.

“I feel as if we are holding a spoon and trying to empty the sea,” Alyan said, beads of sweat trickling down his forehead after a long, hot summer day.

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