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112 Coffins, Years Later
Hundreds of mourners gathered in central Gaza on Tuesday for a mass funeral for 112 people, including 40 children, killed in 2023 in an Israeli strike that demolished a residential block in Gaza City.
“Mourners gathered in central Gaza on Tuesday for a mass funeral for 112 people”
The bodies could not be recovered until now because of Israel’s continuing strikes, which have slowed, though not halted, since the ceasefire in October, and the funeral took place in Deir al-Balah with more than 100 coffins wrapped in Palestinian flags.
The victims were among more than 300 people killed on 22 November 2023 when Israeli warplanes demolished a residential block in Gaza City, and Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the Gaza health ministry’s records department, said 157 people were still missing after the attack.
The Associated Press reported that at least 7,400 people were still buried under the rubble, and the Guardian said the ceasefire has allowed first responders to dig through the rubble where thousands of remains are still buried across the territory.
Last weekend, Gaza’s civil defence dug through the levelled apartment block and recovered the remains of a further 112 victims, including women and children, as mourners carried the bodies through rubble-lined streets and past destroyed buildings for burial in a nearby cemetery.
Disarmament, Strikes, and Dispute
The funeral unfolded as Hamas authorities held a mass burial for 112 people they said were pulled out of the rubble of residential buildings hit in the opening days of the war, and the Times of Israel said the mourning came as the US-backed Board of Peace sought to seal the second phase of Donald Trump’s Gaza peace deal.
The Times of Israel reported that officials said strikes could only be carried out with the express consent of IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, after the military acknowledged it had tightened attack regulations.
In a separate account of the same dispute over the deal, SRN News said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Palestinians that Israel will not withdraw from its current lines in Gaza until Hamas has completely disarmed and pushed back on a recent deal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Netanyahu’s position was echoed in his video posted on social media, where he said, "We did not agree. It is not our draft. We sent our comments. … This is our position," while the Times of Israel described the Board of Peace walking back a demand that the IDF withdraw before Hamas is fully disarmed.
The Times of Israel also quoted a mourner, Taysir Al-Hassayna, saying, "This day is mixed with grief, and it has reopened our wounds three years after this massacre," as hundreds gathered near destroyed buildings before carrying coffins through a narrow street for burial.
What Comes Next for Families
The mass funeral highlighted the scale of what remains unrecovered, with the Guardian saying at least 7,400 people have been reported by relatives as still buried under the rubble and that the true number was probably thousands higher because some strikes had killed entire families.
“At least 7,400 people have been reported by relatives as still buried under the rubble”
The Times of Israel said another 157 people were still buried under the rubble, and it reported that Hamas-affiliated media described the mass burial Tuesday as the war’s largest after a body recovery effort launched on July 14.
Al Jazeera said Palestinian authorities believe about 157 people remain missing, either still beneath the rubble or otherwise unaccounted for, and it described the funeral as one of the largest mass funerals held in the enclave since Israel’s war began.
In the BBC’s account, a recovery operation lasted from mid-July to August 1, and Palestinians accused the Israeli army of preventing rescue teams from reaching to recover the bodies in the period after the bombing.
The BBC also quoted a family member who said the recovery revived pain, noting that 112 bodies had been retrieved including 44 children and 37 women, while "more than six thousand martyrs remain under the rubble and must be retrieved and buried," according to the BBC’s reporting.
