Gaza Families Bury Relatives Recovered From Rubble After Years

Civil Defence teams have retrieved the remains of 69 Palestinians from locations in Jabalia refugee camp and Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza in recent days, Al Jazeera reported. Families are now burying relatives whose bodies had lain under collapsed buildings for years.

Mahmoud Nabhan, from Bir an-Naaja in northern Gaza, lost 17 members of his family when their home was struck 20 days after the war on Gaza began in October 2023. The dead included his seven children and grandchildren, among them a 45-day-old grandchild.

On Sunday, Nabhan buried them. Civil Defence teams had retrieved their remains from the rubble of his home more than three years after the strike.

Fatima al-Masri, 47, said her husband and 18-year-old son were killed in an Israeli attack in the Safatwi area of northern Gaza in October 2024. Their remains stayed beneath the rubble of their home for two years before the recent recovery, she said.

The recoveries have been made possible by a truce agreed between Israel and Hamas in October 2025. A truce is a pause in fighting, and this one allowed some bodies trapped under rubble in Gaza to be recovered.