Gaza buries 75 Palestinians recovered from bombardment rubble

Mass funeral for Daraj victims

Hundreds of Palestinians gathered in Gaza City on Sunday to bury the remains of 75 people, including women and children, recovered from beneath the rubble of homes destroyed during the early months of Israel’s genocidal war. The funeral procession began outside the Daraj Sports Club before the bodies — wrapped in Palestinian flags — were laid to rest at Sheikh Radwan Cemetery, according to Anadolu Agency.

The remains had been displayed at the site Saturday evening to allow relatives to bid farewell after being recovered over recent weeks from several destroyed homes in the Daraj neighborhood, Abdullah al-Majdalawi, director of public relations and media for Gaza’s Civil Defense, told Anadolu. He said the victims belonged to around 20 Palestinian families, including displaced people who had been sheltering in the buildings when they were bombed while residents were inside.

Recovery operations face obstacles

Majdalawi noted that efforts to recover bodies continue to face severe difficulties due to a lack of heavy machinery and equipment. The operation forms part of the second phase of the Civil Defense’s project to retrieve trapped remains, launched on July 19 to search 147 destroyed homes across Gaza City and the northern and central parts of the territory, where an estimated 1,072 bodies are believed to be trapped.

Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal told Anadolu on Oct. 7 that more than 8,000 missing Palestinians were still believed to be under the rubble, warning that recovering them with currently available resources could take around eight years. The first phase of the project, launched in November 2025, recovered 333 bodies and remains out of 559 people believed buried beneath 54 destroyed structures, with limited resources preventing teams from reaching approximately 226 others.

War toll and ceasefire context

Under the first phase of a ceasefire agreement in effect since Oct. 10, 2025, Israel was expected to allow heavy equipment and machinery into the enclave, but Palestinian authorities have accused it 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 genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, while around 90% of the enclave’s civilian infrastructure has been destroyed.