The key facts

  • The remains of 75 Palestinians, including women and children, were recovered from the rubble in the Daraj neighbourhood in northeastern Gaza City and buried at the Sheikh Radwan cemetery.
  • The dead belonged to roughly 20 families; the homes were bombed in the first months of the war while residents were inside.
  • Civil defence has been conducting the second phase of its search operation since 19 July: it plans to survey 147 destroyed homes where, by its estimates, the remains of 1,072 people lie.

Farewell and funerals

On Sunday, hundreds of Palestinians took part in the funerals of 75 people, including women and children, whose remains were recently recovered from the rubble of destroyed homes in Gaza City. The funeral procession began at the Daraj sports club, and the burial took place at the Sheikh Radwan cemetery. The day before, on Saturday evening, the remains, wrapped in Palestinian flags, were laid out so that relatives could say their farewells.

Civil defence data

Abdallah al-Majdalawi, director of public relations and media at Gaza's civil defence, told the Anadolu agency that the remains had been recovered over recent weeks from several destroyed homes in the Daraj neighbourhood in northeastern Gaza City. According to him, the buildings were bombed in the first months of the war while residents were inside, and the dead belonged to roughly 20 Palestinian families, including displaced people who had found shelter in these homes. He noted that the work of recovering bodies is complicated by a shortage of equipment and heavy machinery.

Phases of the search operation

The work is part of the second phase of the civil defence project to recover bodies from under the rubble, launched on 19 July. At that time, the agency's official spokesman Mahmoud Basal said the phase involves surveying 147 destroyed homes in Gaza City as well as in the north and centre of the enclave, where, by estimates, the remains of 1,072 people lie. The first phase, which began in November 2025, made it possible to recover 333 bodies and remains out of 559 people believed to have been under 54 destroyed homes and buildings; due to a shortage of resources, teams were unable to reach approximately 226 people.

Scale of the problem and the ceasefire

On 7 October, Basal told Anadolu that, according to available data, more than 8,000 missing Palestinians remain under the rubble, and warned that at the current level of resources, recovering them could take about eight years. Under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, in effect since 10 October 2025, Israel was expected to allow heavy machinery and equipment into the enclave, but Palestinian authorities and factions accuse it of failing to fulfil this and other obligations.

Overall toll

According to figures cited by Anadolu, since the start of Israel's war in Gaza in October 2023, more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 175,000 wounded, while about 90% of the enclave's civilian infrastructure has been destroyed.