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GAZA CITY\u00a0\u2014\u00a0For 18 days last month, Palestinian Civil Defense crews searched for the bodies of people killed almost three years ago in the opening weeks of the Hamas-Israel war. This week the remains the crews recovered were finally laid to rest.<\/p>\n
In Gaza City, community elders, mokhtars, local dignitaries and civil defense crews gathered Tuesday for a mass funeral after the recovery effort that was accomplished with a single excavator and simple hand tools.<\/p>\n
Before them stood 112 coffins containing bones and fragments of victims from the Abu Sharia and al-Hasayna families, two branches of the same Bedouin clan.<\/p>\n
Following brief remarks, the funeral procession made its way through the Sabra neighborhood in southern Gaza City. Daily life briefly gave way to the procession.<\/p>\n
Street vendors paused their work to watch in silence. Women leaned from apartment windows, filming the march on their phones, while others scattered rice and rose petals over the men carrying the coffins. Armed relatives fired repeated volleys into the air, a customary gesture of mourning in many Arab communities.<\/p>\n
Draped in Palestinian flags, the coffins were carried through streets filled with nationalist songs and chants. Loudspeakers urged the crowd to keep the march peaceful while calling on the international community to deliver justice for Palestinians.<\/p>\n
As the procession advanced, grieving relatives repeatedly cried, \u201cAllahu Akbar\u201d (\u201cGod is Greatest\u201d), their voices rising above the crowd.<\/p>\n
Those buried Tuesday, including 40 children, died during an Israeli strike on Nov. 22, 2023. It came just weeks after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, which left 1,200 and 251 taken hostage.<\/p>\n
Ibrahim Abdul Aziz Abu Sharia, 52, said those killed on Nov. 22 included his two brothers, his two sons, two nephews and three grandchildren from the extended family. He said that strikes targeting the Abu Sharia and Al-Hassayneh families have claimed the lives of 308 family members since the beginning of the war.<\/p>\n
He said no warning was issued by the Israeli military before the Nov. 22 attack. The families believed the location was safe and had therefore gathered in the buildings that were later struck.<\/p>\n
He also said that Israeli forces prevented residents from reaching the site after the bombing., \u201cAnyone who tried to approach to rescue survivors or recover the bodies came under shelling or gunfire, making rescue efforts impossible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Palestinian Civil Defense teams search for the bodies of members of the Daghmash family beneath the rubble of their destroyed home on July 9 in the Sabra neighborhood.<\/p>\n
1. A member of the Palestinian Civil Defense recovery team holds a copy of the Koran found beneath the rubble of the Daghmash family home. 2. White sheets cover the bodies of people recovered on July 19 from ruined buildings in the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood. The bodies were buried after Tuesday\u2019s mass funeral.<\/p>\n