Gaza holds mass funeral for 112 bodies recovered nearly 3 years after Israeli strike
Thousands of Palestinians gathered in Gaza City on Tuesday for a mass funeral for 112 people whose bodies were recovered from beneath the rubble of homes destroyed in an Israeli airstrike nearly three years ago.
The funeral took place in the Sabra neighborhood, where the victims' bodies, draped in Palestinian flags, were placed near the ruins of the destroyed homes before a procession to the Baptist Cemetery in the Zeitoun neighborhood for burial.
The victims were members of the al-Hasayneh and Abu Sharia families, who were killed when Israeli forces struck their homes on Nov. 23, 2023.
Families mourn victims after years of waiting
Ahmed Abu Sharia, a relative of those buried, said the funeral brought long-awaited closure to grieving families.
"We came to mourn our martyrs, children, women and the elderly," he said.
"This is a funeral for the Palestinian people, because they are victims. People are under the rubble, and they did not fight or bear weapons," he added.
The funeral is considered one of the largest in Palestinian history because of the number of victims.
Civil defense says recovery took 17 days
The bodies were recovered from the rubble on Saturday following a 17-day operation by Gaza's civil defense teams.
According to the Civil Defense, the victims included 40 children, 38 women and seven people with disabilities.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said dozens of the bodies recovered belonged to children from the same extended family.
Mohammad Al-Mughayyir, the agency's director of operations, said rescue teams worked continuously to retrieve the remains, often digging through concrete and twisted steel by hand because of limited heavy equipment.
He said that in some cases complete skeletons remained intact beneath the debris.
Thousands of bodies believed to remain under rubble
Bassal said more than 8,000 bodies are still trapped beneath collapsed buildings across Gaza.
The Civil Defense said much of the recovery operation was made possible with two excavators rented by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). An ICRC spokesperson confirmed that the organization had secured two of the few excavators available in Gaza from the private sector to assist in body recovery efforts.
Civil defense officials and humanitarian organizations have repeatedly said that restrictions on the entry of construction equipment have hampered recovery operations.
War's devastation continues to weigh on Gaza
According to the Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment, published in April by the World Bank, the European Union and the United Nations, an estimated 68 million tons of rubble remain across the Gaza Strip, while more than 60% of Gaza's 2.1 million residents have lost their homes since the war began in October 2023.
The Gaza Health Ministry says more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 174,000 injured since the start of the war. Palestinian authorities estimate that around 9,500 people remain buried beneath the rubble of destroyed buildings across the enclave.
Source:DailySabah
