Palestinians carry a body from a destroyed building in Beit Hanoun town, which witnesses said was heavily hit by Israeli shelling and air strikes during an Israeli offensive, in the northern Gaza Strip July 26, 2014. (Photo:Reuters)
The bodies of at least 85 Palestinians were recovered from the rubble across the Gaza Strip in the first half of a 12-hour humanitarian truce Saturday, medics said.
Emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said the 85 bodies had been brought to hospitals in north, central and southern Gaza, as well as Gaza City, but that the toll was expected to rise further still.
The grim discoveries raised the toll in Gaza on the 19th day of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group to 985, Qudra said.
In northern Gaza, particularly the area of Beit Hanun, medics recovered 32 bodies, Qudra said, along with another 13 people discovered in the central areas of Bureij, Deir al-Balah and Nusseirat.
Gaza City's Shifa hospital received 29 bodies from the eastern neighbourhoods of Shejaiya, Zaitun and Tuffah, and 11 other bodies were taken to hospitals from the southern areas of Khan Yunis and Rafah, Qudra added.
Short link: