Politics1 min read

Gaza families bury bodies of loved ones trapped for years under rubble

By · Published by Everything Blog

In short

Teams operating in Jabalia refugee camp and Beit Lahiya have retrieved dozens of bodies, allowing grieving relatives like Mahmoud Nabhan and Fatima al-Masri to hold long-awaited funerals. The search operations unfold amid catastrophic physical destruction, with 82 percent of Gaza's structures damaged and two-thirds entirely destroyed by Israeli strikes and shelling. Due to the lack of heavy machinery, rescue personnel are frequently forced to dig through tons of concrete by hand. Palestinian Civil Defence estimates that more than 8,000 bodies remain trapped under the rubble, alongside over 10,000 people who are still officially listed as missing.

Key points

  • The October 2025 truce provided search teams their first opportunity to reach victims tra…: The October 2025 truce provided search teams their first opportunity to reach victims trapped under collapsed structures for years.
  • Severe equipment shortages caused by ongoing siege conditions regularly force recovery te…: Severe equipment shortages caused by ongoing siege conditions regularly force recovery teams to sift through massive debris by hand.
  • An estimated 8,000 bodies remain buried under the ruins of Gaza, where two-thirds of all…: An estimated 8,000 bodies remain buried under the ruins of Gaza, where two-thirds of all buildings have been completely destroyed.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

The remains of 69 Palestinians have been recovered in northern Gaza, allowing families to finally bury relatives they had spent years searching for.

Jabalia, Gaza Strip – Mahmoud Nabhan, a man in his sixties from Bir an-Naaja in northern Gaza, had waited more than three years for this day.

He wanted to give his loved ones a proper burial after 17 members of his family, including his seven children and grandchildren, were killed when their home was targeted 20 days after Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023. Among those killed was Nabhan’s 45-day-old grandchild.

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After years of searching for their bodies, on Sunday Nabhan was finally able to bury his family members after Civil Defence teams retrieved their remains from the rubble of his home.

“All of them were children, all of…

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