More than two years after an Israeli airstrike collapsed a residential apartment block in Gaza City, 112 of its victims — 40 of them children — were finally laid to rest in a mass funeral held Tuesday in Deir al-Balah. Their bodies had remained buried beneath the rubble for the duration of a war that has now killed over 73,000 Palestinians, displaced nearly an entire population, and left thousands more still unrecovered beneath the ruins. The ceremony arrived not as a sign of peace, but as a measure of how long catastrophe can outpace grief — and how much of the human cost of this conflict rem
Mass funeral held for 112 victims recovered from 2023 Gaza strike
112 people, including 40 children, killed in single 2023 strike; over 73,000 total deaths since October 2023; 2 million displaced in humanitarian crisis.
Bodies waiting two years in the rubble before they could be buried
Mark
Why did it take more than two years to recover these bodies?
Mimi
The strikes didn't stop. Even after the ceasefire in October, Israeli bombing continued, though at a slower pace. You can't safely dig through rubble when bombs are still falling. The ceasefire created a window—not a safe one, but enough of one.
Mark
So the ceasefire is holding, then?
Mimi
It's holding in the sense that there's an agreement in place. But 26 people were killed by Israeli strikes just last weekend. The ceasefire has slowed the violence, not ended it. There's a difference.
Mark
What about the negotiations? Are they moving forward?
Mimi
They've largely stalled. Hamas says they won't disarm unless Israel withdraws from Gaza completely. Israel says it has security concerns about that. So we're in a kind of frozen state—not quite war, not quite peace.
Mark
How many people are still buried?
Mimi
Officially, 7,400 have been reported missing by their families. But that's almost certainly an undercount. When a strike kills an entire family, there's no one left to report them. The real number could be thousands higher.
Mark
And this funeral—was it unusual in scale?
Mimi
Not really. This was one building, one strike from 2023. There are thousands of strikes across Gaza. This one happened to kill over 300 people in a single moment. But the pattern is the same everywhere—bodies in the rubble, families waiting, a slow recovery when conditions allow it.
Mark
What does the international community say about all this?
Mimi
The UN, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International have all found that Israel committed genocide in Gaza. A UN commission found in June that it's still happening. But findings and funerals are different things. The bodies still need to be buried.
El Pulso
- A single 2023 airstrike killed more than 300 people in one apartment block; over two years later, 112 bodies were only now excavated — and 157 remain missing beneath the same rubble.
- At least 7,400 Palestinians across Gaza are still reported buried under debris, with officials warning the true number is almost certainly far higher, since entire families wiped out leave no one to report them gone.
- A ceasefire in place since October has slowed Israeli strikes but not stopped them — at least 26 Palestinians were killed over the weekend of the funeral, even as diplomats announced a new phase of the agreement.
- Negotiations toward a durable ceasefire have stalled: Hamas insists it will only disarm upon full Israeli withdrawal, while Israel cites unresolved security concerns, leaving 2 million displaced people in tent cities with no clear end in sight.
More than two years after an Israeli airstrike collapsed a residential apartment block in Gaza City, 112 of its victims — 40 of them children — were finally laid to rest in a mass funeral held Tuesday in Deir al-Balah. Their bodies had remained buried beneath the rubble for the duration of a war that has now killed over 73,000 Palestinians, displaced nearly an entire population, and left thousands more still unrecovered beneath the ruins. The ceremony arrived not as a sign of peace, but as a measure of how long catastrophe can outpace grief — and how much of the human cost of this conflict remains, literally, underground.
On a Tuesday morning in Deir al-Balah, hundreds of mourners gathered around more than a hundred flag-draped coffins arranged in rows on the ground. The people inside them had been waiting over two years for this moment.
On November 22, 2023, Israeli warplanes struck a residential apartment block in Gaza City, killing more than 300 people. In the immediate chaos, neighbors and family members dug through the smoking debris with bare hands and improvised tools, recovering around 40 bodies. The rest stayed buried. Only last weekend, with the October ceasefire providing enough of a lull for civil defence teams to work, were 112 more victims finally excavated. Forty of them were children. Another 157 from that single strike are still missing.
The problem reaches far beyond one building. Gaza's health ministry estimates at least 7,400 people have been reported by families as still buried across the territory — and officials acknowledge the real number is likely thousands higher. When entire families are killed together, no one remains to report them gone.
The funeral procession moved through streets lined with the wreckage of more than two years of war. It was a ceremony made possible only by a ceasefire that has not, in fact, stopped the killing — at least 26 Palestinians died in Israeli strikes over that same weekend, even as diplomats announced what the US president called a historic agreement toward a second ceasefire phase.
Since October 7, 2023, more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed. Over 1,250 of those deaths have come since the October ceasefire began. Negotiations toward a lasting resolution have largely stalled, with Hamas demanding Israeli withdrawal before any disarmament, and Israel citing security concerns. Meanwhile, nearly all of Gaza's 2 million people remain displaced, living in overcrowded, unsanitary tent settlements. Tuesday's funeral was one ceremony among many still to come — a moment of mourning in a conflict that has yet to find its end.
On Tuesday morning in Deir al-Balah, in the center of Gaza, hundreds of people gathered around more than a hundred coffins arranged in neat rows on the ground. Each was draped in a Palestinian flag. The dead had been waiting for this moment for more than two years.
On November 22, 2023, Israeli warplanes struck a residential apartment block in Gaza City. The building came down. More than 300 people died in the rubble. In the immediate aftermath, people at the scene—neighbors, family members, whoever was nearby—dug through the smoking debris with their bare hands and whatever tools they could find. They managed to pull out about 40 bodies. The rest remained buried.
The ceasefire that took hold in October has not stopped Israeli bombing of Gaza, but it has slowed the strikes enough to allow first responders to work. Last weekend, Gaza's civil defence teams returned to the levelled apartment block and excavated the remains of 112 more victims. Forty of them were children. The work is ongoing: the health ministry estimates that 157 people from that single strike are still missing, their bodies still in the rubble.
The scale of the burial problem extends far beyond this one building. Across Gaza, at least 7,400 people have been reported by their families as still buried under the rubble, according to Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the Gaza health ministry's records department. He told the Associated Press that the actual number is almost certainly thousands higher. When entire families are killed in a strike, there is no one left to report them missing. The true count may never be known.
The funeral procession moved through streets lined with destroyed buildings, past the physical evidence of more than two years of war. The mourners carried the coffins to a nearby cemetery for burial. It was a ceremony delayed by the very conflict that killed these people—a conflict that continues despite the ceasefire. At least 26 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes over the weekend alone, even as diplomats announced a deal intended to solidify the second phase of the October ceasefire. The US president called it a historic agreement. The killing did not stop.
Since October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched an attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostage, more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes. More than 1,250 of those deaths have occurred since the October ceasefire began. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed in the same period. The numbers tell a story of asymmetry, but they do not capture the weight of it—the 112 people waiting two years in the rubble, the 40 children among them, the families who came to bury them on a Tuesday morning.
Ceasefire negotiations intended to move toward a second phase have largely stalled. Hamas says it will only disarm if Israel withdraws from Gaza. Israel says it has serious security concerns about the latest agreement. Meanwhile, most of the Gaza Strip remains in ruins. Of its 2 million people, the vast majority are displaced, living in unsanitary, overcrowded tent cities in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. The funeral on Tuesday was one ceremony among many that will likely follow—a marking of loss in a conflict that shows no clear path toward resolution.
Citas Notables
The true number was probably thousands higher because some strikes had killed entire families, leaving no loved ones to report them missing.— Zaher al-Waheidi, head of Gaza health ministry's records department
Quieres la nota completa?
Lee el original en The Guardian ↗
War & Conflict