Gaza holds mass funeral for 112 people killed in Israel’s 2023 Sabra attack
Gaza held a mass funeral for 112 Palestinians whose remains were recovered from rubble following an Israeli attack in the Sabra neighbourhood in November 2023. The funeral, described as one of the largest in Gaza since the war began, highlighted the ongoing humanitarian toll and families still searching for missing relatives.
Gaza City witnessed one of the largest mass funeral ceremonies held during the ongoing conflict as more than 100 Palestinian bodies were laid to rest on Tuesday. The remains belonged to members of the Abu Sharia and al-Hasayna families, recovered from the site of an attack in the Sabra neighbourhood that occurred in November 2023.
According to Palestinian officials, the November 22, 2023 attack resulted in 308 deaths from the two families, including 40 children, 30 women, and seven individuals with disabilities. Rescue teams recently extracted more than 100 bodies from beneath the rubble, enabling families to conduct funeral rites. Palestinian authorities indicate that approximately 157 people remain unaccounted for, either still trapped beneath debris or missing.
The funeral procession featured rows of coffins draped in Palestinian flags carried through Gaza City, accompanied by large banners displaying photographs of victims and messages calling for an end to the conflict that began in October 2023. The Palestinian Civil Defence characterized the event as exceptional in scale, with spokesman Mahmoud Basal noting it represented a significant moment of collective mourning.
Palestinian officials and activists described the funeral as a powerful symbol of the war's human cost. Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, characterized it as potentially the largest funeral in Palestinian history. Researcher Mahmoud Hamed al-Aila described the event as Gaza extracting its children from rubble after years of conflict. Several activists noted that some families searched through debris with bare hands due to equipment shortages, and that additional bodies have decomposed or remain missing underground.
Ramy Abdu, chairman of the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, stated that approximately 200 Abu Sharia family members are believed to remain beneath the rubble, with their remains potentially decomposed. The funeral underscored the broader humanitarian crisis affecting thousands of Palestinian families awaiting recovery of their deceased relatives.
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