Gaza residents search for bodies and graves of loved ones

Bilal Al-Qahwaji buried several members of his family, including two brothers, there in November after they were killed in an Israeli airstrike. He has never found their bodies again.

The bodies of unidentified Palestinians are buried in a mass grave in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip on August 5, 2024. Photo: Reuters

“They (Israeli forces) dug it up again – the first, second and third time,” Al-Qahwaji told Reuters. “There were no bodies left… I didn’t find them.”

The Israeli military said in a statement that it "does not target cemeteries and has no policy of harming or vandalizing cemeteries".

The Israeli military previously announced it was digging in Bani Suhaila to find and destroy a tunnel that the Islamist group Hamas had built to serve as a military command center.

Israeli air strikes have made major cemeteries in Gaza dangerous to access, forcing mourning families to bury their dead in informal cemeteries dug into open spaces amid the increasingly intense siege.

According to local health authorities, Israel has killed more than 39,000 people in Gaza and reduced much of the small enclave to rubble since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.

A Palestinian house in Deir Al-Balah (central Gaza Strip) was devastated after an Israeli airstrike, Photo: Reuters

Many Palestinians have fled across Gaza to find safe havens. Ten months into the conflict, the cemetery in Khan Younis has been damaged several times in Israeli attacks.

As hospital morgues are constantly filled with bodies from bomb sites, families have to find other places to bury their dead.

The destruction of the graves comes as Palestinians face shortages of food, fuel, water, medicine and functioning hospitals. Mediators from Qatar, the US and Egypt have failed to reach a ceasefire, so the death toll is expected to continue to rise.

Qahwaji said the United Nations and other international organizations should help repatriate the bodies of those buried at the cemetery.

But for now, Palestinians are left to deal with the rubble at cemeteries themselves, as members of the Khan Younis Civil Defense bag bodies on the ground and load them into trucks.

Nguyen Khanh (according to Reuters)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/nguoi-dan-gaza-dau-kho-tim-kiem-thi-the-va-mo-phan-cua-nguoi-than-post306485.html