Palestinians in Gaza bury remains of 100 people recovered from rubble

The remains of thousands more people are believed to be buried in buildings destroyed and damaged in Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza, authorities say.

Mourners gather around the flag-draped bodies of Palestinians whose remains were recently recovered from the rubble after they were killed in Israeli strikes during the genocidal war on Gaza, in Gaza City [Jehad Alshrafi/AP]

Palestinians in northern Gaza are holding funeral ceremonies for about 100 people, including 60 children, whose remains were recovered from the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood.

The remains were carried on Sunday by family members from Zeitoun to al-Ma’madani cemetery in central Gaza City for burial, according to Al Jazeera’s correspondent at the scene, Ghazi al-Aloul.

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Civil defence crews and family members had spent weeks digging through the ruins of homes hit during Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza, which began in October 2023.

Many of the victims were part of the extended Malaka family, which alone lost 55 members.

Al-Aloul said families had waited a long time to be able to bury their loved ones in “known, proper cemeteries”. He said that the chance to bury the remains of family members was “not available to every family”, noting that Israeli forces had destroyed and dug up cemeteries elsewhere in Gaza during the war.

Mourners light candles by the bodies of Palestinians recovered from the rubble of homes demolished during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza [Jehad Alshrafi/AP]

Al-Aloul said the remains, though wrapped in shrouds resembling intact bodies, were often only fragments.

“These are bone remains and remnants of belongings that may have been found on the bodies, especially the children’s,” he said, adding that no complete bodies had been recovered from the site because “the Israeli occupation has prolonged this process, and continues to prolong it and prevent it from being completed quickly”.

Raed al-Dahshan, head of Gaza’s civil defence service, told Al Jazeera his teams had formulated plans to carry out recovery operations for thousands more missing bodies, but said the work was being held back by a shortage of heavy machinery.

“We don’t have equipment, we don’t have protective equipment” for rescue workers, he told Al Jazeera.

Dahshan said the recovery of an estimated 8,000 bodies still believed to be under rubble could be completed in about 90 days with proper equipment, but “if that equipment is barred from entering Gaza … this work will continue for years”.

He said his agency had submitted a detailed list of needed equipment to international institutions and was willing to have that machinery remain under international control rather than with the civil defence directly.

He said crews needed large excavators, personal protective equipment and search equipment to locate remains urgently.

On identifying remains, he said crews rely on survivors and neighbouring families to establish who was in a building and where they were at the time of the strike, supported by a team of engineers who sort and document findings in the field. He said Israeli forces’ failure to warn residents before strikes meant “dozens, even hundreds” of homes still required excavation.

Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN human rights office in the occupied Palestinian territories, told Al Jazeera that the scenes were a reminder of “the brutality of this conflict”, noting some of the remains dated back to November 2023.

“Thousands of people are still languishing under this rubble … We’re talking about areas that may be under Israeli military control, 70 percent of Gaza – there’s difficulty accessing these areas to extract these bodies.”

“Accountability must happen … It’s essential that we preserve the evidence we’ve been able to obtain during this sensitive period.”

Gaza’s Health Ministry says at least 73,651 Palestinians have been killed and 174,592 wounded since October 2023.

Similar recovery operations in recent weeks have retrieved more than 100 bodies of people from the Abu Shariah and Hassaniya families who were killed in a single strike, as well as more than 500 bodies from the Al-Taj tower site, officials and activists said.

当局称，据信还有数千人的遗骸埋葬在以色列对加沙巴勒斯坦人发动的种族灭绝战争中被摧毁和损坏的建筑物中。

在加沙城，哀悼者聚集在覆盖着国旗的巴勒斯坦人遗体周围，这些遗体最近从废墟中被找到，他们是在以色列对加沙的种族灭绝战争期间的空袭中丧生的。[Jehad Alshrafi/AP]

加沙北部巴勒斯坦人正在为大约 100 人举行葬礼，其中包括 60 名儿童，他们的遗体是从加沙城宰图恩街区被毁建筑物的废墟中找到的。

据半岛电视台现场记者加齐·阿卢尔报道，周日，家属将遗体从宰图恩运往加沙城中心的马马达尼公墓安葬。

加沙救援队在以色列空袭近三年后，找回55具遇难者遗骸（共3组，此为第1组）。

（共3条，此为第2条）美国拒绝以色列提出的将巴勒斯坦人从加沙迁走的建议

问题 3（共 3 题）：以色列对加沙的摧毁是否加剧了其水危机？

民防人员和家属花了数周时间挖掘在以色列对加沙巴勒斯坦人发动的种族灭绝战争中被摧毁的房屋废墟，这场战争始于 2023 年 10 月。

许多遇难者都是马拉卡大家庭的成员，仅这个家族就有 55 名成员丧生。

阿卢勒表示，家属们等待了很久才得以将亲人安葬在“正规的、知名的墓地”。他指出，并非每个家庭都能享有安葬亲人的机会，并提到以色列军队在战争期间摧毁和挖掘了加沙其他地区的墓地。

哀悼者在从以色列对加沙发动种族灭绝战争期间被拆毁的房屋废墟中发现的巴勒斯坦人遗体旁点燃蜡烛。[Jehad Alshrafi/AP]

阿卢勒表示，这些遗骸虽然裹在裹尸布中，看起来像是完整的尸体，但实际上往往只是碎片。

他说：“这些是骨骼残骸和遗物残余，可能是在尸体上发现的，尤其是儿童的遗物。”他还补充说，由于“以色列占领当局拖延了这一进程，并且仍在继续拖延，阻止其迅速完成”，因此尚未从现场找到完整的尸体。

加沙民防部门负责人拉伊德·达赫沙恩告诉半岛电视台，他的团队已经制定了搜寻数千具失踪遗体的计划，但表示由于重型机械短缺，这项工作进展缓慢。

他对半岛电视台说：“我们没有设备，也没有救援人员所需的防护装备。”

达赫沙恩表示，如果拥有合适的设备，大约90天就能完成对据信仍埋在废墟下的约8000具尸体的搜寻工作，但是“如果这些设备被禁止进入加沙……这项工作将持续数年”。

他说，他的机构已向国际机构提交了一份详细的所需设备清单，并愿意让这些设备继续处于国际控制之下，而不是直接由民防部门控制。

他说，救援人员急需大型挖掘机、个人防护装备和搜索设备来寻找遗骸。

在辨认遗骸方面，他表示，工作人员依靠幸存者和邻近居民来确定袭击发生时建筑物内有哪些人以及他们的位置，同时还有一支工程师团队在现场对发现的遗骸进行分类和记录。他还表示，以色列军队在袭击前没有警告居民，这意味着“数十甚至数百栋”房屋仍需挖掘。

联合国人权事务高级专员办事处驻巴勒斯坦被占领土负责人阿吉特·桑盖告诉半岛电视台，这些场景提醒人们“这场冲突的残酷性”，并指出其中一些遗骸可以追溯到 2023 年 11 月。

“成千上万的人仍然被埋在废墟下……我们说的是可能处于以色列军事控制下的地区，加沙地带70%的地区——进入这些地区挖掘遗体非常困难。”

“必须追究责任……我们必须保存在这个敏感时期内所获得的证据。”

加沙卫生部表示，自 2023 年 10 月以来，至少有 73,651 名巴勒斯坦人丧生，174,592 人受伤。

官员和活动人士表示，最近几周的类似搜寻行动已经从一次袭击中丧生的阿布·沙里亚和哈桑尼亚家族中找到了 100 多具遗体，并从阿尔塔吉塔遗址找到了 500 多具遗体。