Gaza buries 50 Palestinians recovered from rubble
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- Gaza held a mass funeral Thursday for at least 50 Palestinians whose bodies were recently retrieved from rubble in the Tal al-Hawa, Zeitoun, Sabra, Sheikh Radwan, and Shati neighborhoods, weeks after a separate burial of 112 members of the Abu Sharia and al-Hasayna families from a November 2023 Sabra strike
- Gaza's Civil Defence estimates roughly 8,000 Palestinians are still missing and believed buried under collapsed buildings, with search teams operating with just one excavator, per Al Jazeera correspondent Ghazi al-Aloul
- Munir al-Bursh, director general of Gaza's Ministry of Health, called for heavy machinery, search-and-recovery equipment, and forensic medicine supplies to be allowed into Gaza to identify victims
- Since the ceasefire took effect in October, Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,266 Palestinians and injured 4,200 others, while the broader war has killed at least 73,400 and wounded more than 174,300 since October 2023, with about 90% of Gaza's infrastructure damaged or destroyed
- Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya met Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Doha a day before the funeral, with Qatar praising Hamas for reaffirming commitment to a US-backed 15-point disarmament plan
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly rejected that 15-point plan, which also calls for a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a complete halt to the war
Why it matters: Recovery capacity is overwhelmed — one excavator for an estimated 8,000 missing people — while the 1,266 post-ceasefire deaths show the truce is not holding on the ground. The diplomatic track is moving through Qatar while Netanyahu publicly rejects the US-backed plan, leaving a widening gap between mediation efforts and battlefield reality.
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