GAZA CITY — Hundreds of mourners gathered in Gaza City on Sunday for a mass funeral, laying to rest 75 Palestinians whose remains were pulled from beneath the rubble of bombed-out homes in the Daraj neighbourhood. Wrapped in Palestinian flags, the remains were carried in a procession from the Daraj Sports Club to the Sheikh Radwan Cemetery, where they were buried side by side.
The funeral, announced by Gaza's Health Ministry, was the largest single burial of recovered remains since the Civil Defence launched the second phase of its rubble-clearance operation in July. Most of the 75 came from around 20 families in Daraj, a neighbourhood in northeastern Gaza City, and included people who had been displaced to the homes from elsewhere in the enclave when the buildings were hit in the early months of the war.
Gaza mass funeral for 75 Palestinians recovered from Daraj rubble
The remains had been laid out at the Daraj site on Saturday evening so relatives could bid them farewell, according to the Turkish news agency Anadolu. Abdullah al-Majdalawi, the Civil Defence's director of public relations and media, told the agency the remains were recovered "over recent weeks" from several destroyed homes in Daraj. Many of the recovered fragments were partial — some remains consisted of body parts and personal belongings, Al Jazeera's correspondent Nour Khaled reported.
Khaled said the majority of the remains belonged to women and children "who were inside their homes when they were targeted." The buildings, she reported, had been bombed while residents were inside during the early months of the war, which began in October 2023.
Majdalawi acknowledged the grim mechanics of the work: recovery crews are operating with almost no heavy machinery, digging by hand and with basic tools. "Efforts to recover bodies from beneath the rubble continue to face severe difficulties due to a lack of equipment and heavy machinery," he said.
The 8,000 still under the rubble
Sunday's funeral was part of the second phase of the Civil Defence's project to retrieve bodies trapped under destroyed buildings, launched on July 19. The phase targets 147 destroyed homes across Gaza City and the northern and central parts of the enclave, where an estimated 1,072 bodies were believed trapped, Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal said at the time.
The first phase, launched in November 2025, recovered 333 bodies — out of 559 people believed buried beneath 54 destroyed homes and buildings. Limited resources prevented teams from reaching around 226 others.
The scale of what remains is staggering. The Civil Defence estimates that the remains of another 8,000 Palestinians are still trapped beneath the rubble across Gaza. Basal told Anadolu earlier this month that recovering them with currently available resources could take around eight years. UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, counts about 200,000 damaged and destroyed buildings in the enclave.
A ceasefire that hasn't brought machinery
The recovery operations are unfolding under the first phase of a ceasefire agreement that took effect in Gaza on October 10, 2025. Under that agreement, Israel was expected to allow heavy equipment and machinery into the enclave — but Palestinian authorities and factions have accused it of failing to meet that and other commitments, Anadolu reported.
The casualty figures remain disputed in their totality but converge on the same order of magnitude: Gaza's Health Ministry says at least 74,475 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, while Anadolu's reporting puts the toll at more than 74,000 killed and over 175,000 injured, with around 90 percent of the enclave's civilian infrastructure destroyed.
Sunday's burial was also a reminder of how the war's dead continue to surface. For the families in Daraj who waited at the cemetery — some of whom lost relatives nearly three years ago and are only now laying them to rest — the funeral closed a chapter that the machinery shortage has kept open for thousands more.
Key Takeaways
- 75 buried Sunday: A mass funeral in Gaza City laid to rest 75 Palestinians whose remains were recovered over recent weeks from rubble in the Daraj neighbourhood.
- Women and children: The majority of the remains belonged to women and children who were inside their homes when the buildings were bombed in the early months of the war.
- 8,000 still trapped: Gaza's Civil Defence believes another 8,000 bodies remain under the rubble — and says recovery could take eight years with current resources.
- Missing machinery: The ceasefire in effect since October 10, 2025 was supposed to let heavy equipment in; Palestinian authorities say those commitments have not been met.
- The toll: Gaza's Health Ministry says at least 74,475 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023; UNRWA counts about 200,000 damaged or destroyed buildings.
Why it matters
This funeral is about more than one neighbourhood's grief. It shows, in a single day, the two clocks running in Gaza: the slow official one — a ceasefire, phased recovery operations, equipment that never arrives — and the human one, in which families wait years to bury their dead. The 8,000 still under the rubble are not just a statistic for rescue teams; each one is a Daraj-style funeral waiting to happen. Until the machinery question is settled, Sunday's burial will repeat, week after week, long after the headlines move on.
What happens next
The Civil Defence's second phase continues across 147 targeted sites in Gaza City and the north and centre, with crews still digging largely by hand. Whether heavy machinery enters — and how quickly — will decide whether the eight-year recovery estimate stands. For the roughly 20 Daraj families who buried relatives on Sunday, the next wait is for identification of the partial remains that could not be matched to names.
Frequently asked questions
What happened at the Gaza mass funeral on Sunday?
Hundreds of Palestinians attended a mass funeral in Gaza City for 75 people whose remains were recently recovered from beneath the rubble of destroyed homes in the Daraj neighbourhood. The remains, wrapped in Palestinian flags, were carried from the Daraj Sports Club to the Sheikh Radwan Cemetery and buried on Sunday morning.
Who were the 75 Palestinians buried in Gaza?
According to Gaza's Civil Defence, the remains belonged to around 20 families from Daraj, including people displaced from other areas who were sheltering in the homes when they were bombed in the early months of the war. Al Jazeera's correspondent reported the majority were women and children.
Where were the 75 bodies found in Gaza?
The remains were recovered over recent weeks from several destroyed homes in Daraj, a neighbourhood in northeastern Gaza City that was hit in the early months of the war. Many were partial remains — body parts and personal belongings — laid out for relatives to identify before burial.
How many bodies are still trapped under rubble in Gaza?
Gaza's Civil Defence believes the remains of another 8,000 Palestinians are still trapped beneath the rubble. Spokesman Mahmoud Basal said recovering them with current resources could take around eight years, with about 200,000 buildings damaged or destroyed, according to UNRWA.
What is Gaza's Civil Defence rubble-recovery operation?
It is a phased project to retrieve bodies buried under destroyed buildings. Phase one (November 2025) recovered 333 bodies of 559 believed trapped under 54 buildings. Phase two, launched July 19, targets 147 destroyed homes across Gaza City and the north and centre, where about 1,072 bodies were thought to be.
What is the death toll in Gaza?
Gaza's Health Ministry says at least 74,475 Palestinians have been killed since the war began in October 2023. Anadolu's reporting puts the figure at more than 74,000 killed and over 175,000 injured, with around 90 percent of civilian infrastructure destroyed. Tolls are attributed to the reporting bodies; independent verification is impossible amid the rubble.
By GlobalDeskNews Staff | October 18, 2026
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Sources
- Al Jazeera — Funeral held for 75 Palestinians after remains recovered from Gaza ruins (published October 18, 2026)
- Anadolu Agency — Gaza buries remains of 75 Palestinians recovered from rubble of homes destroyed by Israel (published October 18, 2026)
- TRT World — Gaza buries remains of 75 Palestinians recovered from rubble of Israeli-bombed homes (published October 18, 2026)