44 Children Among Victims as 112 Members of Gaza Family Buried Nearly 3 Years After Airstrike

DID Press: Thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza City have attended the funeral of 112 members of the Abu Sharia family, whose remains were recovered from the rubble of a building destroyed in a November 2023 Israeli airstrike, nearly three years after the attack.

The funeral is being described as the largest burial ceremony for a single family since the start of the Gaza war. The victims’ remains were recovered in recent days from the ruins of a building in the Sabra neighborhood, where hundreds of displaced Palestinians had reportedly been sheltering.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health and relatives of the victims, the bodies include 44 children under the age of 16, 37 women, and more than 10 people with disabilities. Palestinian officials say the strike killed 308 members of the Abu Sharia family, an incident they refer to as the “Sabra neighborhood massacre.”

The Gaza Civil Defense said rescue teams, assisted by volunteers, recovered the remains of 112 victims during recent excavation efforts. Search operations for additional victims are continuing nearly three years after the airstrike.

Following funeral prayers, the victims were buried in a mass grave at the Martyrs’ Cemetery in Gaza.

Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for Gaza Civil Defense, said the lack of heavy machinery and specialized equipment continues to hamper recovery efforts, adding that thousands of bodies are believed to remain trapped beneath the rubble across Gaza.