Mass Funeral Held for Gaza Victims Recovered After Nearly Three Years
CAIRO- More than 100 Palestinians whose remains were recovered from the rubble of a residential block destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in 2023 were laid to rest in a mass funeral in Gaza City on Tuesday, nearly three years after the attack, according to local authorities.
Hundreds of mourners gathered as the bodies, wrapped in Palestinian flags, were placed in rows near the ruins of the destroyed buildings in the Sabra neighborhood before being carried on stretchers through nearby streets for burial at a local cemetery.
The 112 victims were among more than 300 people reported killed during an Israeli airstrike on the Sabra neighborhood on Nov. 22, 2023. Their remains were recovered over the weekend after rescue teams spent 136 hours excavating the site, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense agency, which operates under the Hamas-run Interior Ministry.
The Civil Defense said the recovered victims included 40 children, 30 women and seven people with disabilities. It added that another 157 people are still believed to be buried beneath the rubble at the location.
The recovery operation highlighted the continuing challenges facing rescue workers in Gaza, where collapsed buildings and widespread destruction have left many victims unrecovered years after individual attacks.
The war in Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants launched an attack on southern Israel that, according to Israeli authorities, killed about 1,200 people and resulted in the capture of 251 hostages.
Israel subsequently launched a military campaign in the Gaza Strip. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the offensive has killed 73,375 people, including both civilians and combatants. Reuters and other international news organizations have been unable to independently verify casualty figures released by the ministry.
Zaher Al-Waheidi, head of the Gaza Health Ministry’s records department, said approximately 7,400 people remain missing and are presumed to be buried beneath the rubble across the territory, underscoring the continuing humanitarian consequences of the conflict.
