ISRAELI OCCUPIED GAZA, 08 Sept. - (ANA) - Large crowds gathered in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood on Sunday to attend a solemn mass funeral for 100 people whose remains were only recently retrieved after they were killed in the Gaza War.

 

Their bodies were recovered from under the rubble of destroyed homes in the neighbourhood and were taken to the Baptist Cemetery, in a scene which highlighted the scale of the tragedy endured by Gaza’s residents during the genocidal war.

 

The funeral was organised by the Zeitoun Neighborhood Families Association in coordination with the General Directorate of Civil Defence and the Missing Persons Committee.

 

Relatives of those found were in attendance while mourners carried photographs of the deceased and banners bearing tribute to them.

 

Civil Defence teams that had carried out the recovery and transportation of the bodies also took part in the funeral.

 

Gaza Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said that of the 100 victims, 70 were children.

 

Before the funeral began, an atmosphere of grief filled the area. Family members gathered to take a final look at the remains of their loved ones after waiting so long to learn of their fate.

 

Some were in shock, unable to comprehend that the long search had finally ended with coffins bearing the names of the people they loved.

 

Bassal said that the operation to recover the bodies had been about returning victims to their families and giving them the right to say goodbye and bury their loved ones.

 

“How long will Gaza remain in this pain? How long will a father raise his children for years, only for them all to die in a single moment? Why are innocent people being killed? And how long will Gaza continue to bleed?” he asked in anguish.

 

Bassal said that the Civil Defence still need to search for approximately 8,000 people under the rubble, despite limited resources and a total absence of support from the world.

 

Omar Nofal, representing the Missing Persons Committee said, “Behind every body found is a name, a family, and a story that has waited a long time.”

 

Nofal emphasize that the bodies of those killed had been under the rubble for three years but said that this was “not a failure on the part of Civil Defence, but a failure of humanity, and of a world that constantly boasts about human rights, children's rights, and women's rights.

 

“But the only truth is that, in this world, rights belong to the powerful, and the law that prevails is the law of the jungle.”

 

“Civil Defence did not recover a single weapon from beneath the rubble, but it recovered nearly 70 boys and girls,” Nofal added. “It recovered colourful dolls and little teddy bears, while more than 8,000 people remain beneath the rubble to this day.”

 

After the farewell speeches, mourners carried the coffins and the funeral procession moved through the streets of Gaza City toward the Baptist Cemetery.

 

At the Baptist Cemetery, families and mourners gathered around the bodies for the final time before the burial ceremonies began. The coffins were lowered one after another into the graves, while family members stood at their edges, taking their final looks before the victims were laid to rest.

 

For the Zeitoun neighborhood, the funeral was not so much the end of the story as a collective recovery of a part of its memory, while other families continue to wait to learn the fate of their missing loved ones.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/08 September 2026 - - -