In a stark illustration of the extent to which the Israeli war machine has devastated the Gaza Strip, families of martyrs are struggling to find decent graves to bury their loved ones, away from the threat of stray dogs.
Sheikh Hamdi, a Palestinian cleric, recounts from inside the Sheikh Radwan cemetery in the heart of Gaza City that families of martyrs can no longer find even half a meter of space within the cemeteries to bury their relatives. This is especially dire given that the entire Gaza Strip has only two cemeteries: the Sheikh Radwan cemetery and the Baptist cemetery, located on the eastern side of the city near the Baptist Hospital.
Due to the lack of sufficient burial space within the cemeteries, a daily increase in the number of martyrs has led to exorbitant prices for any available plot, reaching between 1,200 and 1,400 shekels (approximately $480 to $520).
According to an Al Jazeera report, graves are now being opened multiple times to bury more than one martyr in a single tomb.
The tragic scene didn’t end at the official cemeteries. Hundreds of grieving families were forced to convert their courtyards and private gardens into makeshift burial grounds for their sons and grandsons, as access to public cemeteries became impossible, and the burial costs had become prohibitively expensive.
The report explains that the lack of basic building materials like cement and stones, due to the crippling siege, has made constructing proper graves virtually impossible. Families are forced to collect rubble from destroyed homes and use mud to bury the bodies, in a rudimentary attempt to preserve the dignity of the deceased.
