Palestinians in Gaza bury remains of 100 people recovered from rubble

What the report says

Palestinians in northern Gaza held funeral ceremonies on Sunday for the remains of about 100 people, including around 60 children, that were recovered from the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood, according to Al Jazeera. Family members carried the remains to al-Ma’madani cemetery in central Gaza City for burial. The report said many of the dead were from the extended Malaka family, which lost 55 members.

Al Jazeera reported that civil defence crews and relatives spent weeks searching through the ruins of homes damaged in Israeli strikes during the war that began in October 2023. The remains were often only fragments, rather than complete bodies, and some families had waited for the chance to bury loved ones in known cemeteries. The article also noted that in some parts of Gaza, cemeteries themselves were damaged during the conflict.

Gaza’s civil defence chief, Raed al-Dahshan, told Al Jazeera that efforts to recover more bodies are being slowed by a lack of heavy machinery and protective gear. He said thousands more people are still believed to be under rubble, and that the work could take years without equipment being allowed into Gaza. A UN human rights official, Ajith Sunghay, described the scenes as evidence of the scale of devastation and said preserving evidence remains important. The report added that Gaza’s Health Ministry says tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed and wounded since October 2023.