Hundreds of Palestinians, on Sunday, mourned the remains of 75 people, including children and women, recently retrieved from under the rubble of homes in the Al-Taraj neighborhood, northeast of Gaza City, destroyed by Israel during the first months of the genocide war. The funeral, which began in a square in front of the Al-Taraj Sports Club, was attended by the Civil Defense Agency, factional and community figures, and civil institutions.
Abdullah Al-Majdalawi, Director of Public Relations and Media at the Civil Defense Agency in Gaza City, told Anadolu Agency that these remains were retrieved in recent weeks from under the rubble of several homes where teams worked in the Al-Taraj neighborhood. He clarified that these homes "were bombed on the heads of their residents by the Israeli military in the first months of the genocide war, and contain martyrs from about 20 Palestinian families who lived there or were displaced there."
Al-Majdalawi pointed out that the work on the "body retrieval project faces many challenges due to the lack of capabilities and heavy equipment." The retrieval of these remains comes within the second phase of the "retrieval of martyrs' bodies" project, launched by the Civil Defense Agency on July 19. Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the agency, said at a conference held in Gaza City at the time that this phase would be implemented over "800 working hours, and includes searching for missing bodies under the rubble of 147 destroyed homes in the Gaza, North, and Central governorates, where it is believed that 1,072 bodies are located."
In November 2025, the first phase of the project began, during which 333 bodies and remains were retrieved out of 559 missing bodies under the rubble of 54 homes and buildings, while weak capabilities prevented reaching approximately 226 bodies still under the rubble. On October 7, Basal told Anadolu Agency that more than 8,000 missing persons are still under the rubble, and retrieving them with current capabilities could take about 8 years.
According to the first phase of the ceasefire agreement in effect in the Gaza Strip since October 10, 2025, Israel was supposed to allow the entry of necessary heavy equipment and machinery, but it reneged on that, according to government sources and Palestinian factions in the Strip. Israel also reneged on various commitments stipulated in the agreement, including halting military operations of bombing and incursion, opening crossings, and entering agreed quantities of food, relief, and medical aid.
The agreement was reached after two years of a genocide war launched by Israel with US support, which resulted in more than 74,000 killed, over 175,000 injured, and massive destruction affecting 90 percent of civilian infrastructure.
Source: Anadolu Agency
Comments (0)