Families bid farewell to loved ones recovered from Gaza rubble

The remains were placed near the Imam al-Shafi’i Mosque in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood on Saturday, ahead of a mass funeral planned for Sunday.

Families gathered around rows of remains draped in Palestinian flags. They lit candles, placed flowers and searched among photographs and names for relatives who had been missing since their homes were destroyed.

A long-awaited farewell

Gaza’s Civil Defense recovered the remains in recent days from the destroyed homes of the Rahim, Balawi, Malaka and Qanbour families.

Recovery teams have been working with limited excavators and worn-out equipment amid restrictions on the entry of heavy machinery needed to remove rubble.

For families who spent years returning to destroyed homes in the hope of finding their relatives, the recovery brought both relief and renewed grief.

‘My whole life is gone’

Among those mourning was Maryam Hassan al-Balawi, who lost her husband and children. Her only surviving daughter, Malak, stood beside her.

“My husband and my children were killed. I have no one left except my only surviving daughter, Malak,” Balawi told Anadolu.

“My whole life is gone. My husband and my children are gone. I have no life left,” she said.

Balawi recalled her husband’s final request that, if he died, she should shroud and bury him herself.

For more than two years, she was unable to fulfill that wish.

She said recovering the remains brought a small measure of peace after repeatedly visiting the ruins where her family remained buried.

“When they brought them out, I felt some relief in my heart, as though my soul came out with them,” she said.

Only survivor

Jadallah Rahim stood beside the remains of 32 members of his extended family, killed when their home was struck on Feb. 19, 2024.

More than 15 of those killed were children and about 10 were women, he said.

“Their only ‘fault’ was that they stayed in their homes,” Rahim said. “They were suddenly bombed and they were all killed in an instant.”

Thirty-three people had been inside the home, he said, pointing to a girl nearby.

“She was number 33. She was the only survivor.”

The others remained beneath the rubble for roughly two and a half years before Civil Defense crews reached them after days of digging with limited equipment.

“These are not numbers,” Rahim said. “Look at their names. Men, women, children, elderly people.”

‘The grief came back’

The recovery ended years of uncertainty but also reopened painful memories for the families.

“This is not joy,” Rahim said. “The grief came back. The pain came back. The tears came back.”

He pointed to a young girl who had lost her parents and siblings and was walking among their remains.

For Rahim, recovering the bodies also meant finally giving relatives a burial after years beneath the rubble.

As darkness fell over Zeitoun, candles continued to burn beside the remains, surrounded by flowers, Palestinian flags and grieving families.

The relatives were expected to carry their loved ones in a mass funeral procession on Sunday.

Hundreds remain beneath rubble

The second phase of the Civil Defense recovery project covers 147 destroyed homes in Gaza City and northern and central Gaza, where an estimated 1,072 bodies remain beneath the rubble.

During the first phase, launched in November 2025, recovery crews retrieved around 333 bodies and sets of remains from 54 destroyed homes and buildings.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza since October 2023 has killed at least 73,651 Palestinians and injured 174,575.

For the families gathered in Zeitoun, however, the figures represent individual lives, names and memories.

After more than two years beneath the rubble, their loved ones had finally come home.