Gaza holds mass funeral for 112 strike victims

Thousands of Palestinians gathered in Gaza City for a mass funeral for 112 people whose remains were recovered from the rubble of a residential block destroyed in an Israeli strike early in the Gaza war.

The dead were members of the Hassayna and Abu Sharia families, described as one extended clan. Their bodies were laid in rows in the morning sun, each draped in a Palestinian flag, with some bearing photographs of the victims. Relatives then carried the remains through the streets for burial.

The funeral was described by Gaza authorities as the territory’s biggest mass funeral since the war began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Al Jazeera reported that local media called it one of the largest funerals of the war.

The remains were recovered after a two-week operation in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City. Gaza’s Civil Defence, which operates under the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, said crews excavated a destroyed residential building and retrieved the remains of 112 people. The BBC reported that 40 children, 38 women and seven people with disabilities were listed among the dead.

The families were killed when an Israeli strike hit their residential compound in November 2023. The BBC reported the attack took place on Nov. 22, while CBS News, citing Gaza’s Civil Defense, reported it occurred on Nov. 23. The strike came in the second month of the war, after Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 hostages, according to the BBC.

Israel’s military has not responded to requests for comment about the strike from the BBC and CBS News. CBS News reported that Israel has said throughout the conflict that it targets militants and accuses Hamas of operating in areas that put civilians at risk.

At the funeral, mourners watched as flower petals were scattered over the covered bodies. Women and children stood on partly demolished buildings around the burial area, CBS News reported. A banner showing the faces of dozens of children stood behind Gaza Civil Defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal as he addressed the crowd.

“O nation, why are children getting killed in Gaza? Why are women getting killed in Gaza?” Basal asked at the service. “Why are massacres committed against innocents in Gaza?”

The words “Stop the genocide in Gaza,” in Arabic and English, were written on the podium. CBS News reported that Israeli officials have strongly disputed accusations that Israel committed genocide in Gaza, saying Hamas attempted genocide in its Oct. 7 attack.

Relatives said the recovery allowed them to bury family members who had been trapped under rubble for more than two years. “I think this is a feeling that was supposed [to be felt], a feeling of pain, grief and loss,” mourner Ali Abu Sharia told the BBC. “After we managed to retrieve them and bury them, perhaps we can be partially relieved despite the pain of loss and all we’re still living through.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross supported the recovery by providing equipment, training and excavator rentals, spokesperson Patrick Griffiths told the BBC. “It’s not an answer any family wants to receive — confirmation that your loved one has been killed,” he said. “But it’s essential towards them receiving closure and being able to mourn their loss in their own way.”

The Hamas-run health ministry says at least 73,377 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the BBC, which said the United Nations considers the ministry’s figures reliable. Thousands more people remain unaccounted for across Gaza, many believed to be buried under rubble.