Gaza Holds Mass Funeral For 100 Recovered From Rubble in al-Zeitoun
Palestinians gathered in Gaza City to bury 100 people recovered from rubble in al-Zeitoun, including dozens of children killed in a 2023 strike.
Hundreds of people gathered outside Imam al-Shafi Mosque in al-Zeitoun on Sunday for a funeral procession that ended at al-Maamadani cemetery in central Gaza City. According to Middle East Eye, mourners carried remains shrouded in Palestinian flags and laid them to rest in collective graves.
The burial followed a wait of nearly three years for several families. Middle East Eye reported that 100 people were buried, including 62 children, after their remains were recovered from the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes in Gaza City. The account said the bodies were recovered from the al-Zeitoun neighbourhood and included 55 members of the Malaka family who were killed in an Israeli air strike in November 2023, according to Gaza's civil defence.
The Cradle Media also reported funeral ceremonies for 100 Palestinians recovered from beneath rubble of buildings destroyed by Israel across Gaza, most of them women and children.
What was buried in al-Zeitoun
Middle East Eye identified the remaining victims beyond the Malaka family as belonging to the Irahem, Qanbour, Balawi and Dahdouh families. The same report said no complete bodies had been recovered from the site, citing Al Jazeera reporting that Israeli forces had hindered the recovery process.
A separate account from The Cradle Media described around 100 Palestinians recently recovered in Gaza City's Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, the majority women and children. That account said Palestinian journalists reported that the remains included 70 children, a higher child toll than the 62 reported by Middle East Eye. It also said civil defence crews spent days recovering the dead largely by hand amid equipment shortages and restrictions.
The Cradle Media account linked 55 of the dead to a single family home struck on 19 November 2023 while sheltering more than 60 displaced Palestinians. Middle East Eye dated the Malaka family strike to November 2023 without giving a day. The material available here does not resolve the remaining difference in the reported number of children.
Why recovery took so long
In recent months, Palestinian civil defence teams have led efforts to recover bodies across the territory, according to Middle East Eye. The report said the process has been slow due to a lack of heavy equipment, much of which was destroyed or blocked by Israel from entering Gaza.
The Cradle Media account said crews worked largely by hand amid severe equipment shortages and ongoing restrictions. Press TV reported that a funeral was held in Gaza for 100 Palestinians whose bodies were recovered from under the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli attacks.
The pattern is not limited to al-Zeitoun. Middle East Eye reported that in August, Palestinians buried the remains of 112 members of the Abu Sharia and al-Hasayna families who were killed in Gaza City's Sabra neighbourhood in November 2023. That report said Israeli warplanes flattened an entire residential block where members of those families had been living and sheltering, killing more than 300 people including 44 children, 37 women and at least 10 people with disabilities, with most remaining buried beneath collapsed buildings.
The missing count
Middle East Eye reported that at least 73,651 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since 7 October 2023, according to Gaza health authorities, and that thousands of bodies remain trapped beneath rubble.
The same report quoted Omar Nofal, head of Gaza's government committee for missing persons, as saying around 6,000 people had been officially registered as missing since the war began, while the true figure was likely closer to 15,000, with many believed to be buried beneath collapsed buildings. Our assessment, based only on that quoted passage, is that those two numbers measure different things, registered cases versus an official's estimate of the likely total, so they should not be read as a single confirmed missing count.
What the cited reports agree on is narrower. A mass funeral for about 100 people took place, children formed a majority of those buried under either reported breakdown, and Middle East Eye and The Cradle Media both described recovery as constrained by equipment and access. The child toll is reported as 62 by Middle East Eye and as 70 by The Cradle Media.
Burial in al-Zeitoun
Families gathered nearly three years later, according to The Cradle Media, laying victims to rest amid candles, flowers and Palestinian flags. Middle East Eye described relatives and local residents bidding farewell to loved ones before burial in collective graves.
Source records
The sources below were retrieved for this article. Reposts and mirrors may share the same reporting.
- https://t.me/presstv/205766
- https://t.me/thecradlemedia/67455
- https://t.me/thecradlemedia/67465
- https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-buries-100-palestinians-recovered-rubble-including-62-children