Gaza rubble in the northern district of Zeitoun yielded the skeletal remains of approximately 100 victims, including 60 children, who were buried on Sunday, Al Jazeera reported. Civil defence workers and surviving relatives spent weeks clearing collapsed residential structures to retrieve the remains, which were transported to al-Ma`madani cemetery in central Gaza City.
A significant number of the deceased belonged to the extended Malaka family, which documented 55 casualties from strikes on their homes. Family members gathered to conduct funeral services after extended efforts to recover their relatives from under shattered concrete. Many recovered remains consisted primarily of bone fragments and clothing remnants.
A critical shortage of excavators severely impedes ongoing recovery efforts.
Raed al-Dahshan, head of the local civil defence agency, stated that teams could retrieve an estimated 8,000 bodies still trapped across the territory within 90 days if specialized heavy machinery were granted clearance. He explained that without heavy earth-moving equipment and protective gear for emergency personnel, the recovery effort could take several years to complete.
The agency confirmed it submitted detailed lists of required rescue tools to international humanitarian organizations, proposing that the machinery remain under global oversight. Field engineers continue to rely on testimonies from neighborhood survivors to map locations where missing civilians were situated during bombardments.
Civil defence authorities maintain their appeal for immediate international intervention to facilitate the entry of heavy excavation units into the enclave.
