At least 50 Palestinians whose bodies were recently recovered from rubble were buried in Gaza City on Thursday in the latest mass funeral for victims of Israel’s war on Gaza.
The bodies were recovered from sites of Israeli air strikes in the early months of the war, which began in October 2023, in Tal al-Hawa, Zeitoun, Sabra, Sheikh Radwan and Shati.
Families await the recovery of missing relatives
The victims included members of the al-Sawafiri, al-Batniji and Gharbiya families. Families of other missing Palestinians continue searching for remains beneath collapsed buildings.
Gaza’s Civil Defence estimates that about 8,000 Palestinians are still missing and are believed to be buried under the rubble. Search teams are operating in extremely difficult conditions with only one excavator, slowing recovery operations.
Related coverage: At least 10 killed in strikes on Gaza City and Nuseirat.
Officials call for equipment and forensic supplies
Munir al-Bursh, director general of Gaza’s Ministry of Health, called for heavy machinery, search and recovery equipment and forensic medicine supplies to be allowed into Gaza. He said the resources are needed to recover remains and identify victims.
Funeral follows another large burial
The ceremony came weeks after thousands of people gathered on August 4 to bury the remains of 112 members of the Abu Sharia and al-Hasayna families. Those bodies had been recovered from the site of an Israeli attack in November 2023 in Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood.
Deaths reported since the ceasefire took effect
The funeral took place amid reported ongoing Israeli violations of a ceasefire agreement that took effect in October. As of Wednesday, Israeli attacks had killed at least 1,266 Palestinians and injured 4,200 since the agreement began.
More context: Israeli minister urges killing 30 to 40 Palestinians nightly in Gaza.
The war has killed at least 73,400 Palestinians and wounded more than 174,300, most of them women and children, according to the supplied source material. About 90 percent of Gaza’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.
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