Scores of bodies pulled from rubble after Israel’s Gaza City assault, civil defense worker says

Tel Aviv — A civil defense worker in Gaza City tells CBS News that 65 bodies were found under the rubble in just one neighborhood of the Palestinian city decimated by the latest Israeli assault. It had been Gaza’s biggest city, before the war sparked by the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel by the territory’s Hamas rulers.

Israel’s military told everyone in Gaza City to evacuate again this week — for the second time since the war started.

Video from the Shejaiya neighborhood, where the bodies were found, shows utter obliteration.

The Israel Defense Forces said the operation, which it had completed by the end of the week, targeted militants who’d regrouped in Gaza City. The IDF previously claimed to have killed more than 150 terrorists in the area.

Residents returned to Shejaiya Thursday to search for their belongings amid the rubble. Many appeared dazed or distraught by what they found.

CBS News’ Gaza producer Marwan al-Ghoul said there were near constant explosions thundering across the Palestinian territory from 11 p.m. Thursday night until 5 a.m. Friday.

Israeli negotiators, meanwhile, have returned from the latest round of cease-fire talks in Doha, Qatar this week. On Thursday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of “clinging to demands that endanger Israel’s security.”

Hamas has blamed Israel — claiming the group is procrastinating and trying to thwart the negotiations.