Civil Defence Recovers 55 Bodies of Malka Family From Gaza City Rubble

Fifty-five bodies belonging to a single family, the Malkas, have been pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building in the Zeytoun neighborhood of Gaza City, according to a report by Al Jazeera relayed by Middle East Eye.

Civil defence authorities in Gaza said they had spent more than 72 hours searching the site for the remains of over 60 members of the family. The recovery of 55 bodies so far suggests the search is not yet complete.

According to the report, the family had taken shelter in the building roughly two years earlier during an Israeli bombing campaign. That detail, including the exact timing, has not been independently corroborated beyond the original account.

Civil defence authorities said they had been searching for more than 60 bodies of victims from the Malka family over the previous 72 hours, according to the report.

Authorities said a joint funeral procession for the Malka family is scheduled for early next week, a common practice in Gaza when extended families are killed together and identification of individual remains becomes impossible amid the scale of destruction.

No casualty breakdown by age or sex has been released. Middle East Eye's report does not specify which strike or operation caused the building's collapse, and Occupation Watch has not independently verified the date or military unit responsible.

The recovery adds to a long pattern documented across Gaza City and other urban areas: multi-generational families sheltering together in residential buildings during Israeli bombardment, followed by mass casualty events when those buildings are struck or collapse. Civil defence crews, operating with limited heavy equipment amid fuel and access restrictions, have repeatedly described searches for buried remains stretching over days rather than hours.

Occupation Watch is seeking further confirmation of the strike responsible for the building's collapse and the exact date of the bombing campaign referenced in the report.