Gaza City buries 75 people recovered from rubble of homes destroyed early in the war

GAZA CITY — Hundreds of Palestinians attended a funeral on Sunday for 75 people, including women and children, whose remains were recovered from destroyed homes in Gaza City's Daraj neighborhood, according to Anadolu Agency.

The procession began outside the Daraj Sports Club. The remains were then buried at Sheikh Radwan Cemetery in Gaza City, Anadolu reported. They had been laid out at the site on Saturday evening so relatives could say farewell.

Civil Defense account

Abdullah al-Majdalawi, director of public relations and media for Gaza's Civil Defense, told Anadolu that teams had recovered the remains over recent weeks from several destroyed homes in Daraj, in northeastern Gaza City.

He said the buildings were bombed with residents inside during the early months of the war. According to Majdalawi, the dead came from about 20 Palestinian families and included people who had been displaced to those homes.

Majdalawi said recovery work still faces severe difficulties because of a lack of equipment and heavy machinery.

In a Telegram post on Saturday, the Turkish broadcaster TRT Haber said the 75 bodies were removed from the rubble three years after they were killed. The post is unverified. It also said children in Gaza bade farewell to their families in tears. The Anadolu report does not give the number of children among the dead.

Recovery project

The operation is part of the second phase of a Civil Defense project to retrieve bodies trapped under rubble. The phase began on July 19, according to Anadolu.

Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said at the time that the phase would cover 147 destroyed homes in Gaza City and the northern and central parts of the Gaza Strip. He said an estimated 1,072 bodies were believed to be trapped there.

The first phase began in November 2025. Anadolu reported that it recovered 333 bodies and remains out of 559 people believed to be buried beneath 54 destroyed homes and buildings. Limited resources stopped teams from reaching about 226 others.

Basal told Anadolu on Oct. 7 that more than 8,000 missing Palestinians are still believed to be under the rubble. He said that recovering them with the resources now available could take about eight years.

Background

A ceasefire agreement has been in effect in Gaza since Oct. 10, 2025. Under its first phase, Israel was expected to allow heavy equipment and machinery into the territory, according to Anadolu. The agency reported that Palestinian authorities and factions have accused Israel of failing to meet that commitment and others. Anadolu's report does not include a response from Israel.

Anadolu said more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 175,000 injured since the war began in October 2023. It also said about 90 percent of Gaza's civilian infrastructure has been destroyed. The agency did not name the source of those figures in its report.

Anadolu described the war as a genocide. Israel has not accepted that description, and this report does not adopt it.