OMM Newsroom
Hundreds of Palestinians attended a funeral on Sunday for 75 people, including women and children, whose remains were recently recovered from beneath the rubble of homes destroyed by Israeli forces in Gaza City. Anadolu Agency reported that the homes were destroyed during the early months of the war.
The procession began outside Daraj Sports Club, and the remains were buried at Sheikh Radwan Cemetery in Gaza City. Wrapped in Palestinian flags, they had been laid out at the site on Saturday evening so relatives could pay their respects.
Abdullah al-Majdalawi, Gaza Civil Defense’s director of public relations and media, told Anadolu Agency that the remains had been recovered in recent weeks from several destroyed homes in the Daraj neighborhood in northeastern Gaza City.
He said the buildings had been bombed while residents were inside during the early months of the war. The victims belonged to around 20 Palestinian families, including people who had been displaced to the homes.
Al-Majdalawi said efforts to recover bodies from under the rubble continued to face severe difficulties because of a lack of equipment and heavy machinery.
The recovery work is part of the second phase of a Civil Defense project to retrieve the bodies of Palestinians trapped under rubble, launched on July 19. Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said at the time that teams would search 147 destroyed homes across Gaza City and the northern and central parts of the enclave, where an estimated 1,072 bodies were believed to be trapped.
The first phase, launched in November 2025, recovered 333 bodies and remains out of 559 people believed to be buried beneath 54 destroyed homes and buildings. Limited resources prevented teams from reaching around 226 others.
Basal told Anadolu Agency on Oct. 7 that more than 8,000 missing Palestinians were still believed to be under the rubble. He warned that recovering them with the resources then available could take around eight years.
Under the first phase of a ceasefire agreement in effect in Gaza since Oct. 10, 2025, Israel was expected to allow heavy equipment and machinery into the enclave. Palestinian authorities and factions have accused Israel of failing to meet that and other commitments.
More than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 175,000 injured since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, while around 90% of the enclave’s civilian infrastructure has been destroyed, according to Anadolu Agency.
