Mourners gathered in Gaza City on Thursday (August 20) to attend the funerals of Palestinians whose bodies were recently recovered from beneath the rubble.

Fifty bodies were recently pulled from the ruins of houses belonging to the Sawafiri, Batniji and Karam families, according to Gaza's civil defence.

Palestinian Lynn Karam was among those at the funeral. She said that for nearly three years, she had nowhere to mourn her mother, sister and brother whose bodies remained buried beneath the rubble of their Gaza home after an Israeli strike early in the war.

“I knew that a big wound would be opened, but it's not a problem, the important thing is that we honour them, we honour them at their resting place," Karam said.

Gaza's civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said teams had retrieved a total of about 180 bodies over 50 days from 17 homes.

Basal said more than 8,000 people remained under the rubble across the enclave, requiring great effort and resources to retrieve them.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

'A big wound reopened,' Palestinians hold funeral for 50 recovered bodies of three families in Gaza City

VIDEO SHOWS: BODIES WRAPPED IN PALESTINIAN FLAGS LAID OUT ON THE GROUND FOR FUNERAL OF 50 PEOPLE FROM THREE FAMILIES KILLED IN THE WAR, WHOSE REMAINS WERE RETRIEVED FROM UNDER THE RUBBLE / MOURNERS MOVING BODIES TO CEMETERY FOR BURIAL / SOUNDBITES FROM GAZA'S CIVIL DEFENCE SPOKESPERSON AND RELATIVES

RESENDING WITH FULL SCRIPT

SHOWS: GAZA CITY, GAZA (AUGUST 20, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. PEOPLE GATHERED FOR FUNERAL, DAMAGED BUILDINGS

2. VARIOUS OF BODIES WRAPPED IN PALESTINIAN FLAGS LAID OUT ON GROUND

3. BODIES WRAPPED IN PALESTINIAN FLAGS, PEOPLE TAPING PHOTOS AND NAMES

4. RELATIVE OF VICTIMS, LYNN KARAM, PRAYING

5. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RELATIVE OF VICTIMS, LYNN KARAM, SAYING:

"I was waiting for this day, and I knew that a big wound would be opened, but it's not a problem, the important thing is that we honour them, we honour them at their resting place. That we find a place to go and pour out our troubles to them, that we find a place to go and talk with them, so I thank God that after three years of torment, of pain, of loss, of needing them, we managed to reach something where we can honour them."

6. PEOPLE GATHERED AROUND BODIES WRAPPED IN PALESTINIAN FLAGS ON THE GROUND

7. PEOPLE HOLDING BANNER WITH PHOTOS OF VICTIMS, TEXT READING (Arabic): "Martyrs of the Sawafiri family massacre.”

8. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RELATIVE OF VICTIMS, LYNN KARAM, SAYING:

"During the retrieval process, it was the hardest time because we were sitting there waiting to see who they pulled out and who they reached. So the feelings were difficult, feelings mixed with pain and sadness. Seeing your home destroyed, and they are pulling them out little by little; one time it was my mother, then my sister, then my brother, then this person or that. So this was the hardest, hardest period. It was the hardest period, pulling them out from under the rubble."

9. PEOPLE HOLDING BANNERS, GATHERED AROUND BODIES WRAPPED IN PALESTINIAN FLAGS ON THE GROUND

10. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RELATIVE OF VICTIMS, ABU BASIL AL-BATNIJI, SAYING:

"After two and a half years of waiting, they have reopened the wounds all over again. This alone is enough pain and suffering for us, with what we're enduring with the Israeli state that commits massacres, one after another. And to this very day and despite their claim that there's a truce, this is not true, it's a false claim.”

11. MOURNERS STANDING AROUND BODIES ON GROUND

12. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GAZA'S CIVIL DEFENCE SPOKESPERSON, MAHMOUD BASAL, SAYING:

"Within this phase, which is the second phase of the victims retrieval project, the teams managed to retrieve approximately 180 martyrs, over the course of about 50 days in 17 homes where they intervened in the field. So there are still, until now, more than 8,000 under the rubble who require great effort, capabilities, capacities, logistics, tools, in order to pull out the sons and their families and the children from under the rubble."

13. PEOPLE PRAYING, BODIES ON THE GROUND

14. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CARRYING COFFINS, BODIES WRAPPED IN PALESTINIAN FLAGS, WALKING IN STREETS/ SOME CHANTING (Arabic): “There is no God but Allah. A martyr is beloved by Allah.”

15. TOP SHOT OF PEOPLE CARRYING COFFINS, BODIES, WALKING IN STREET

16. MOURNERS LOWERING COFFIN ONTO GROUND AT CEMETERY

17. PEOPLE GATHERED AT THE CEMETERY