Mass funeral held in Gaza City's Al-Daraj for 75 people recovered from rubble

GAZA CITY — Hundreds of Palestinians attended a mass funeral on Sunday for 75 people whose remains were recovered from beneath buildings destroyed in Israeli attacks in the Al-Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza City, according to Arab News.

Arab News said the remains were pulled from the rubble of buildings hit by Israeli bombing. Quds News Network, in a post on Telegram, said the victims were killed nearly three years ago. The post has not been independently verified.

Identification difficult

In its Telegram post, Quds News Network said many of the dead were women and children. It said some remains consisted only of body fragments and personal belongings, which made identification extremely difficult. Arab News did not report those details.

Both outlets cited an estimate that about 8,000 bodies are still under rubble in the Gaza Strip. They attributed it to different bodies. Arab News cited the Palestine News Agency. Quds News Network said Gaza's Civil Defence had issued the warning.

Arab News reported that recovery teams lack the heavy machinery and forensic equipment needed to retrieve and identify bodies. It linked the shortage to Israeli restrictions on supplies and to continuing bombardment since October 2023. Quds News Network said rescue teams face severe shortages of excavators, heavy machinery and protective equipment.

Missing and casualty figures

Arab News said the Palestinian Ministry of Justice's national team for following up on missing persons reported in October that more than 10,000 people have been missing in Gaza since late 2023. The report described the figure as an estimate, not a consolidated count, according to Arab News.

Arab News also reported that the death toll in the Gaza Strip has passed 74,400, with at least 175,449 people injured since October 2023. It did not name the source of those totals in the text available.

The outlet also cited the United Nations as saying Israel's actions have confined Gaza's 2 million residents to about 30 percent of the territory.

Not confirmed

The source material does not include a statement from Israeli authorities on the Al-Daraj recovery or on the restrictions on equipment. It does not say when the buildings in Al-Daraj were struck or how many of the 75 have been identified. The details on the victims' ages and the condition of the remains come only from the Quds News Network post.

Background

The Gaza Strip has been under Israeli bombardment since October 2023. Arab News reported that bodies have continued to be recovered from collapsed buildings, and that teams have limited equipment to do so.

Arab News also reported that Israel faces charges of war crimes and genocide at the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. The text available did not detail those proceedings or any Israeli response to them.

The reported figures on the dead, injured and missing are estimates from Palestinian bodies and, in one case, the UN. They differ in how they are compiled. The Ministry of Justice team said its count of missing people is not a consolidated total.