On Tuesday, hundreds of mourners gathered amidst the ruins of Gaza City to lay 112 Palestinians to rest in a heart-wrenching mass funeral. These remains were recovered by the local civil defense agency following a grueling two-week search operation in the Sabra neighborhood. According to officials, the bodies were discovered within a residential block that had been decimated by Israeli airstrikes back in November 2023, just a day before the initial truce of the conflict. The victims included 40 children, 38 women, and several individuals with disabilities, all of whom had been trapped under the debris for months.

Recovery efforts proved to be immensely difficult, with workers forced to dig through reinforced concrete and steel using only their hands due to a critical lack of heavy machinery. Mohammed Abu Dan, who led the recovery team, noted that at least 157 more bodies likely remain buried at the site, with many others having disintegrated entirely due to the extreme intensity of the munitions used. As the civil defense agency continues its broader mission to locate the thousands of Palestinians still missing beneath collapsed buildings across the enclave, they are calling on international humanitarian organizations to intervene and demand that Israel allow the entry of essential equipment needed to recover the remaining victims.