Hundreds of Palestinians on Thursday attended the funeral of the remains of 105 Palestinians recovered from beneath the rubble of destroyed residential buildings in the Al-Yarmouk area of Gaza City.
Families of the victims and local residents performed funeral prayers over the remains, which were wrapped in Palestinian flags before being transferred to the Martyrs Cemetery in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, northwest of Gaza City, where they were buried.
Local teams, assisted by technical teams from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross, recovered the remains from residential buildings destroyed in Israeli bombardments at the beginning of the war on Gaza in October 2023, WAFA reported.
Families held a final farewell ceremony for the remains the previous day at the site where their loved ones were killed in Al-Yarmouk, lighting candles as they mourned them.
Mamdouh Atallah, who attended the funeral, said the recovery operation began about 20 days ago through the efforts of civil defense teams, with Egyptian assistance. He said the remains were recovered from beneath the rubble of 16 residential buildings in the Al-Taj area, which were targeted on October 25, 2023, and contained 138 apartments.
He said around 450 Palestinians were killed in the attack, including children, women, and elderly people. The remains of 105 people have been recovered, including those of 37 children and 38 women, while others remain trapped beneath the rubble.
The statements were made during a press conference held by the Civil Defence Directorate in the presence of representatives of around 20 families, who called for the provision of equipment needed to recover the remaining remains.
According to Civil Defence sources, rescue teams in Gaza require 10 excavators, 30 bulldozers, and 100 heavy loaders to remove rubble and recover the remains as quickly as possible. More than 8,000 bodies are believed to remain beneath the rubble of destroyed buildings across the Gaza Strip.
The recovery of the 105 victims from the Al-Taj area has highlighted the scale of the devastation caused by Israeli bombardment, as the remains of many missing Palestinians remain buried beneath destroyed buildings in different parts of the Gaza Strip.
More than 8,000 bodies are still believed to be trapped beneath the rubble of buildings destroyed across Gaza.
