Mass funeral held for 105 Gazans recovered from rubble after nearly three years

Families in Gaza City have held a mass funeral for 105 Palestinians, including 37 children killed by Israeli airstrikes, whose bodies had been buried beneath the ruins of 16 residential buildings in the al-Taj area for nearly three years.

Civil Defense crews, backed by Egyptian and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) teams, recovered the remains during a 17-day search through the rubble.

Hundreds of mourners prayed over the Palestinian flag-draped remains before their burial in Gaza City‘s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, a day after families held a candlelit vigil at the Yarmouk site where their relatives were killed.

Israeli warplanes destroyed the buildings that held 138 apartments on October 25, 2023 while bombing residential blocks in the city’s Yarmouk area.

Among the 105 killed in the attacks were 37 children and 38 women, whose families waited nearly three years to lay them to rest.

Taghreed al-Hanawi lost her daughter, physician Alia Ramzi al-Hanawi, in the strike, along with her son-in-law and four grandchildren.

“Their family was completely erased from the civil registry,” she told Anadolu Agency. “Today the wound has reopened, but at last I was able to hold their remains and bury them with dignity.”

Fawaz Ziyara, a survivor who lost relatives in the attack, said around 300 people were killed when the block was hit, adding that more bodies and missing people are still under the rubble.

Mamdouh Atallah, who attended the funeral, put the death toll from the strike at around 450, among them children, women, and elderly people.

“These are civilians and human beings who have the full right to live in peace and safety,” Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said, renewing calls to protect Gaza's civilians.

At a Civil Defense press conference, relatives representing around 20 families pleaded for heavy machinery to reach the bodies still buried at the site, equipment that Israel's siege on Gaza continues to keep out of the strip.

Civil Defense crews said they have pulled more than 630 bodies and human remains from the ruins of Gaza's buildings since November 2025, while Palestinian authorities estimate that more than 8,000 people are still entombed beneath the rubble.

Israel's breaches of the so-called ceasefire reached in October 2025 have since killed 1,431 Palestinians and wounded 5,026 others, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

Since October 8, 2023, the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza has officially killed more than 74,000 and wounded over 175,000, while destroying around 90 percent of the enclave's infrastructure in an effort to ethnically cleanse and forcibly displace the population by making life in the strip as unbearable as possible.

Israel violates Gaza ceasefire over 5,100 times, kills 1,421 Palestinians: Gaza Media Office

Israeli forces have violated the US-backed Gaza ceasefire 5,147 times since it took effect on October 10, 2025.

 On Thursday, an Israeli drone struck a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in the al-Iqlimi area of al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, killing Tamer al-Hamayda, 42, and wounding three others. 

Israeli military vehicles also opened heavy fire toward tents housing displaced people in the al-Mawasi area of Rafah, southern Gaza.

On Wednesday, Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least eight Palestinians and wounded 24 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Among those killed was Palestinian journalist Mohammad Abdel Aziz al-Najjar, an imam and presenter for Holy Qur’an Radio, who was struck by an Israeli drone in the al-Mawasi area of al-Qarara, northwest of Khan Younis, while preparing a report on Qur’an memorization.

Al-Najjar was the 263rd journalist killed by Israel since October 2023, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.

Other Wednesday attacks included a drone strike near al-Matahin Junction, north of Khan Younis, which killed Bilal al-Samiri and wounded two others, including a girl.

In Tel al-Hawa southwest of Gaza City, an Israeli airstrike on a vehicle near the Council of Ministers intersection killed five Palestinians and wounded 13 others. An attack on a residential unit near al-Shifa Hospital killed one woman, Iman Ramez Abdul-Aal, and wounded her husband.

On Friday, Israeli forces continued operations. An Israeli drone strike injured several Palestinians in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, according to Wafa, while Israeli forces opened heavy fire toward tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the al-Mawasi area of Rafah.

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