At least 50 Palestinians whose bodies were retrieved recently from the rubble have been laid to rest in Gaza City, in the latest mass funeral held in the enclave for victims of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
The funeral ceremony on Thursday came weeks after search and rescue teams recovered the bodies from the site of Israeli air strikes in the early months of the war, which began in October 2023, from the neighbourhoods of Tal al-Hawa, Zeitoun, Sabra, Sheikh Radwan and Shati, Al Jazeera correspondent Ghazi al-Aloul reported.
The victims came from several families, including the al-Sawafiri, al-Batniji and Gharbiya families.
Families of several other missing people continue to look for their remains beneath the rubble, with Gaza’s Civil Defence estimating some 8,000 Palestinians are still missing and believed to be buried under the collapsed buildings.
Al-Aloul said search teams in Gaza are working under extremely difficult conditions and have only one excavator, which is slowing recovery operations.
Munir al-Bursh, director general of Gaza’s Ministry of Health, called for heavy machinery as well as search and recovery equipment and forensic medicine supplies to be allowed into Gaza to facilitate recovery operations and help identify victims.
The latest mass funeral was held amid ongoing Israeli violations of a “ceasefire” agreement that took effect in October.
As of Wednesday, Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,266 Palestinians and injured 4,200 others since the agreement took effect.
The “ceasefire” deal was signed after more than two years of the genocidal war, which has killed at least 73,400 Palestinians and wounded more than 174,300, most of them women and children.
About 90 percent of Gaza’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed during the genocidal war.
On August 4, thousands of people gathered to bury the remains of 112 members of the Abu Sharia and al-Hasayna families, recovered from the site of a November 2023 Israeli attack in the Sabra neighbourhood.
Hamas leader meets Qatar PM
The mass funeral comes a day after a Hamas delegation, led by Khalil al-Hayya, head of the Palestinian group’s political bureau, met Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Doha to discuss the latest developments in Gaza.
In a statement, Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Sheikh Mohammed praised Hamas for reaffirming its commitment to the latest United States-backed proposal to disarm the group as part of a wider plan to end the war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly rejected the 15-point plan announced by US President Donald Trump last month, which also includes a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a complete halt to the war.
Sheikh Mohammed also called on the international community to fulfil its responsibilities, including pressuring Israel to meet its obligations under the agreement and end its ongoing violations against the Palestinian people.
