Hundreds of mourners gathered in Gaza on Sunday for the funeral of 75 Palestinians, including women and children, whose remains were recently extracted from the ruins of houses destroyed by Israeli military strikes during the opening months of the war. Wrapped in Palestinian flags, the remains had been placed outside the Daraj Sports Club on Saturday evening, giving families an opportunity to say their final goodbyes before a procession moved them to Sheikh Radwan Cemetery for burial.
According to Abdullah al-Majdalawi, director of public relations and media for Gaza’s Civil Defence, search teams retrieved the remains over recent weeks from several flattened residences in the Daraj neighborhood of northeastern Gaza. The residential structures were targeted while occupants were still inside, impacting approximately 20 local families alongside displaced persons who had sought shelter in the homes. Al-Majdalawi emphasized that recovery efforts continue to be hampered by an extreme shortage of heavy machinery and essential extraction equipment.
The recent recoveries are part of the second phase of a Civil Defence initiative launched on July 19 to locate victims trapped under debris. Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal previously noted that this phase targets 147 ruined homes across northern, central, and broader Gaza, where an estimated 1,072 bodies remain buried. An earlier phase initiated in November 2025 resulted in the recovery of 333 bodies out of 559 believed to be trapped beneath 54 destroyed buildings, though limited resources prevented teams from accessing around 226 others.
Basal warned on October 7 that more than 8,000 missing Palestinians are still believed to be beneath the rubble enclave-wide, cautioning that full recovery could take roughly eight years under present equipment constraints. Although the first phase of a ceasefire agreement in effect since October 10, 2025, stipulated that Israel would permit heavy machinery to enter Gaza, Palestinian authorities and factions have reported that Israel has failed to meet this obligation alongside other commitments. Since the war began in October 2023, more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 175,000 injured, while approximately 90 percent of Gaza's civilian infrastructure has been destroyed.
