Watan-In a scene that tugs at the heartstrings and leaves one breathless, users of social media platforms circulated a poignant video of an elderly Palestinian man performing the Fajr prayer while trapped under the rubble of his home in Gaza, as rescue teams attempt to extricate him, sparking widespread reaction.
The circulated video showed the elderly man trapped under a mass of cement in his demolished home. As the rescuers’ digging sounds are heard trying to reach him, the Palestinian man recites the verse from Surah An-Nur: “In houses Allah has permitted to be raised and His name be mentioned therein; exalting Him within them in the morning and the evenings, men whom neither commerce nor sale distracts from the remembrance of Allah and performance of prayer and giving of zakah. They fear a Day in which the hearts and eyes will [fearfully] turn about.” (Quran 24:36-37).
He then performs other prayer movements without being able to move from his position, his right hand appearing covered in blood and dust.
Tons of rubble
Rescuer “Abood Al-Majdalawi” commented on his Twitter account: “While I was rescuing this great man, upon my arrival, I found him praying the Fajr prayer in this condition with tons of rubble above him.”
The latest estimates from the Ministry of Health on the number of missing persons in Gaza indicate around 7,000 individuals. However, this number has not been updated since November.
Officials in Gaza and relief workers say thousands more have likely been added to this toll in the weeks and months that followed.
According to a report by The New York Times, most families have accepted that the missing individuals have likely been martyred. It’s unclear how many of the missing estimates are actually reflected in the official death toll.
Continuous airstrikes, gunfire exchanges, and bombings often make the search for bodies among the debris extremely perilous.
At other times, relatives are too far away to undertake the search, having been separated from the rest of their families in search of a safer place to go.