Rescue workers in the Gaza Strip are assessing the extent of the destruction

In the first full day of peace in the Gaza Strip on Monday, rescuers and civilians began to reckon with the scale of the destruction in the strip.

The Gaza Civil Defense Agency – the sector’s main emergency response agency – said it feared more than 10,000 bodies were still buried under the vast sea of ​​rubble.

Spokesman Mahmoud Basal told the BBC they hoped to return the dead within 100 days, but this was likely to be delayed due to a lack of bulldozers and other necessary equipment.

New footage from Gaza since Sunday’s cease-fire showed scenes of utter devastation during the 15-month Israeli offensive, particularly in the enclave’s north.

Earlier, the UN estimated that 60% of structures in Gaza were damaged or destroyed.

Although a ceasefire began on Sunday, the sounds of bombardment replaced by celebration, the reality facing people across Gaza remains desperate.

According to the UN World Food Program (WFP), the war has left more than two million Gazans homeless, without income and completely dependent on food aid to survive.

That aid began flowing into Gaza immediately after Sunday’s cease-fire, and the UN said at least 630 trucks had entered Gaza by the end of the day, the highest number since the war began 15 months ago.

Sam Rose, acting director of Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestine refugees in Gaza, said the aid deliveries were just the beginning of the task of restoring a lifeline.

“We are not only talking about food, healthcare, buildings, roads, infrastructure, we have individuals, families, communities that need to be rebuilt,” he said.

“The trauma they’ve been through, the suffering, the loss, the grief, the humiliation and the brutality they’ve endured over the last 16 months, it’s going to be a very, very long journey.”

In Israel, the families of the three hostages who were freed in the first exchange spoke at a press conference in Tel Aviv on Monday evening. Mandy Damari, mother of Emily Damari, a dual citizen of Israel and the UK, said Emily was in “high spirits” and “on the road to recovery” despite losing two fingers in the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas.

Meirav Leshem Gonen, Romi Gonen’s mother, said: “We got our Romi back, but all families deserve the same result, the living and the dead. Our hearts are with the other families.”

Ahead of the press conference, Israeli authorities released new footage showing Damari, 28, Gonen, 24, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, tearfully greeting their mothers Sunday moments after they were flown out of Gaza.

If the first phase of the ceasefire holds, 30 more hostages will be released from Gaza over the next 40 days in exchange for about 1,800 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons.

Palestinian health authorities estimate that more than 46,900 people have been killed in Gaza in more than 15 months of war and more than 110,700 have been wounded.

The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but says most of the dead are women and children – a claim supported by the UN.

A UK-led study published this month in the medical journal The Lancet found that the Department of Health’s figures could be underestimating the death toll by more than 40%.

Gaza’s civil defense agency said in a statement on Monday that 48% of its own personnel had been killed, wounded or detained during the conflict, while 85% of its vehicles and 17 of 21 facilities had been damaged or destroyed.

Although the risk of airstrikes has disappeared, for now the grim work continues for the remaining civil defense personnel. Pictures shared with the BBC by agency workers in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday showed them carrying out harrowing work, including retrieving dead babies and human remains in poor condition.

“Every street has dead people. Every neighborhood has people under buildings,” said Abdullah Al-Majdalavi, a 24-year-old civil defense worker in Gaza City.

“Even after the ceasefire, we received many calls from people saying please come, my family is buried under the rubble.”

Malaak Kassab, a 23-year-old recent graduate displaced from Gaza City, told the BBC on Monday that her family members were among those still unaccounted for.

“We have lost many of our family members and some are still under the collapsed buildings,” she said. “There are many people under the rubble – everyone knows about it.”

Kasab’s family home in the apartment building was not completely destroyed, she said, but was badly damaged. “There are no doors, no windows, no water, no electricity, nothing. Even wood to start a fire. This is impossible for life.”

Movement remains dangerous for displaced Gazans as the Israeli military begins the process of withdrawal from Gaza settlements.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warned people not to approach their personnel and facilities, and not to enter the buffer zone established around the Gaza border and around the Netzarim Corridor, which bisects Gaza, separating north from south.

But many residents were eager to see what was left of their homes earlier than they were advised. Hatem Eliva, a 42-year-old factory manager from Gaza City, said he was considering walking from his shelter in Khan Younis in the south.

“We have been waiting for this ceasefire like people waiting to go to heaven,” Eliva said. “I’ve lost two of my brothers and their families. I’ve lost my cousins, my uncles. The only thing I’m still hoping for is to come home.”

There are serious concerns on both sides that the deal could collapse before the first phase is completed in about six weeks, and Israel has stressed that it reserves the right to resume hostilities in Gaza at any time.

Speaking at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hailed the agreement as a “ray of hope” and said its commitments must be met.

But Guterres warned of a worsening situation in the occupied West Bank, which has seen a huge increase in Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian villages since the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel.

“Senior Israeli officials are openly talking about formally annexing all or part of the West Bank in the coming months,” Guterres said, adding: “Any such annexation would constitute a serious violation of international law.”

Mu’at Al-Khatib contributed to this report