Gaza buries remains of 75 Palestinians recovered from rubble of homes destroyed by Israel

Hundreds of Palestinians on Sunday attended the funeral of 75 people, including women and children, whose remains were recently recovered from beneath the rubble of homes destroyed by Israeli forces in Gaza City during the early months of Israel's genocidal war.

The funeral procession began outside the Daraj Sports Club before the remains were buried at Sheikh Radwan Cemetery in Gaza City.

The remains, wrapped in Palestinian flags, had been laid out at the site Saturday evening to allow relatives to bid farewell.

Abdullah al-Majdalawi, director of public relations and media for Gaza's Civil Defense, told Anadolu that the remains had been recovered over recent weeks from several destroyed homes in the Daraj neighborhood in northeastern Gaza City.

He said the buildings were bombed while residents were inside during the early months of the war and that the victims belonged to around 20 Palestinian families, including people who had been displaced to the homes.

Majdalawi said efforts to recover bodies from beneath the rubble continue to face severe difficulties due to a lack of equipment and heavy machinery.

The recovery operations are part of the second phase of the Civil Defense's project to retrieve the bodies of Palestinians trapped under rubble, launched on July 19.

Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said at the time that the phase would involve searching 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 on Oct. 7 that more than 8,000 missing Palestinians were still believed to be under the rubble and warned that recovering them with currently available resources 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, but Palestinian authorities and factions 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.