Gaza mass funeral
Gaza: Residents of Gaza are expected to hold a mass funeral on Tuesday, August 4, for 112 Palestinians, part of the Hassayna and Abu Sharia clan, whose bodies were recovered after nearly three years under the rubble in Gaza City. They were among more than 300 people killed on November 22, 2023, when Israeli warplanes flattened a residential block in the city’s Sabra neighbourhood.
First responders recovered the bodies over the weekend after digging through the rubble for 136 hours, according to the Civil Defence, a rescue agency operated under Gaza’s Hamas-run Interior Ministry.
According to Palestinian media, hundreds of other relatives are believed to be still lying beneath the rubble, and others were reduced to ashes due to the force of the explosions, leaving the family no remains to mourn.
Visuals surfaced on social media showing the funeral preparations as families held prayers.
The bodies included 40 children, 30 women and seven people with disabilities, the Civil Defence said in a statement, adding that another 157 people remained missing under the rubble.
Hundreds of people gathered for the funeral, where the bodies wrapped in Palestinian flags were laid in rows near the flattened buildings before being carried on stretchers through a narrow street for burial in a nearby cemetery.
The Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.
Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has since killed 73,375 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but they are considered generally reliable by the United Nations and other international organizations.
This post was last modified on August 4, 2026 5:15 pm