On Friday, October 24, 2025, the somber ritual of exhuming and reburying the remains of more than 120 members of the Shuheiber family unfolded in Gaza City, a stark reminder of the long shadow cast by the ongoing conflict in the region. According to QNN, Palestinian Civil Defence teams, with the aid of relatives and local volunteers, began retrieving the bodies from a makeshift mass grave on farmland south of Gaza City. The victims, initially interred months ago after Israeli airstrikes made access to official cemeteries impossible, were finally laid to rest at the Sheikh Shaaban Cemetery in the city’s eastern Al-Saha area.
The air was heavy with grief as dozens of Gaza residents gathered to perform funeral prayers before the reburial. The Shuheiber family’s tragedy began on November 17, 2023, when Israeli warplanes bombed a home in the Al-Sabra neighborhood. The house, which had become a refuge for displaced family members, was reduced to rubble, killing more than 95 people in a single strike. Nahid Shuheiber, a survivor of the attack, recalled the desperate circumstances that forced the family to bury their loved ones in a nearby agricultural plot. “We had no choice,” he said, “it was too dangerous to reach the cemeteries.”
The story of the Shuheiber family is, heartbreakingly, not unique. As the war has dragged on, temporary cemeteries have become a grim fixture across Gaza. Families, cut off from official burial grounds by constant bombardment and impassable roads, have been forced to lay their dead to rest in hospital courtyards, schoolyards, and vacant lots. Human rights organizations report that thousands of Palestinians have been interred in such makeshift graves, often within sight of their destroyed homes or the hospitals that could not save them.
Raed Al-Dahshan, Director General of Gaza’s Civil Defence, spoke to the magnitude of the task facing his teams. “With the help of forensic experts, the Ministry of Health, and volunteers, we transferred more than 120 martyrs from the temporary grave to their final resting place,” he said. The process is fraught with danger and logistical hurdles. Israeli restrictions have prevented the entry of heavy machinery and essential safety gear, leaving Civil Defence workers to dig by hand, often under the threat of renewed attacks. Despite these challenges, the teams continue their grim work, recovering bodies from beneath the rubble and striving to provide the dignity of a proper burial.
The numbers are staggering. Since the conflict intensified in October 2023, more than 68,280 Palestinians have been killed, 170,375 wounded, and 9,500 remain missing, according to QNN. The reburial of the Shuheiber family’s remains stands as a symbol of a people’s struggle not only to survive, but to honor their dead amid relentless violence and destruction.
While Gaza mourns, another facet of loss unfolds across the border. Nearly two weeks have passed since Hamas turned over all living hostages and four deceased from Gaza, but 13 deceased hostages—including two Americans and a Thai national—remain unreturned, according to a Scripps News report. Among them is Itay Chen, a 19-year-old American who was the youngest U.S. citizen taken captive by Hamas and who died while in captivity. His father, Ruby Chen, spoke candidly about the agony of waiting for news. “It’s a feeling that’s difficult to articulate. It’s a phone call that is the worst phone call you’ll ever get in your lifetime. And when you do not get that phone call, you feel disappointed. That is a very difficult set of emotions to have in one day,” he said.
The Chen family’s ordeal is echoed by others whose loved ones are still held by Hamas. The return of deceased hostages has become a deeply fraught process, marked by uncertainty and heartbreak. U.S. officials, including Vice President JD Vance, envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, traveled to Israel in October 2025 to support ongoing peace efforts and to press Hamas for the return of all hostages. Ruby Chen acknowledged the significance of their presence. “Mr. Kushner, Mr. Witkoff, Vice President Vance—I think them being here is not an accident. I think that’s part of the pressure that the United States as well as the other mediators are putting on Hamas to bring back all the other hostages.”
For Israeli society, the recent return of 20 living hostages and the signing of a ceasefire deal have brought a measure of relief. As reported last week, an Israeli ethics professor reflected on the profound difference between the return of living and deceased hostages. The ceasefire, coupled with the release of the hostages, has allowed many Israelis to finally “breathe a sigh of relief,” offering a brief respite in a conflict that has long seemed intractable.
Yet, for many families on both sides, closure remains elusive. In Gaza, the struggle to recover and properly bury the dead continues under dire conditions. Civil Defence teams, hampered by shortages of equipment and the ever-present risk of violence, press on with their exhausting and dangerous work. The reburial of the Shuheiber family’s remains is just one chapter in a much larger narrative of loss and resilience—a testament to the enduring bonds of family and community in the face of overwhelming adversity.
In Israel, the return of living hostages has brought hope, but the fate of the deceased—still held in Gaza—remains a source of pain and frustration. The involvement of high-ranking U.S. officials underscores the international dimension of the crisis and the urgent need for resolution. The efforts to pressure Hamas into returning the bodies of the remaining deceased hostages continue, with families like the Chens left in limbo, waiting for the call that may finally bring some measure of peace.
The parallel stories of the Shuheiber family in Gaza and the families of deceased hostages in Israel reveal the human cost of war in its most intimate form. They are stories of grief, perseverance, and the universal desire to honor loved ones with dignity. As the ceasefire holds and diplomatic efforts intensify, the hope remains that these families—and so many others affected by the conflict—will one day find the closure and justice they seek.
For now, the work of remembrance and recovery continues, marked by small acts of compassion and solidarity in the midst of devastation. The reburial of the Shuheiber family, the pleas of families like the Chens, and the efforts of those striving for peace all serve as reminders that, even amid profound tragedy, the human spirit endures.
