GAZA
Civil defense workers on Monday found the body of a Palestinian man under the rubble of a Gaza Strip mosque destroyed by an Israeli airstrike 78 days ago, medial sources have said.
Zahdi Abul-Rous went missing in August during the recent Israeli onslaught on the blockaded Palestinian enclave, which left hundreds dead and thousands injured.
Over two months later, his body was found under the rubble of the destroyed Qassam Mosque in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip as civil defense workers were removing the debris.
The body was badly decomposed, the sources added.
For 51 days this summer, Israel pounded the Gaza Strip – by air, land and sea – with the stated aim of ending rocket fire from the coastal enclave.
More than 2,160 Gazans, mostly civilians, were killed – and 11,000 injured – during seven weeks of unrelenting Israeli attacks in July and August.
The Israeli offensive finally ended on August 26 with the announcement of an indefinite cease-fire agreement.
Brokered in Egypt, the truce calls for reopening Gaza's border crossings with Israel, which, if implemented, would effectively end the latter's years-long blockade of the embattled territory.
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