In Gaza, the ongoing conflict has pushed the region’s cemeteries to their limits, with undertakers now stacking graves on top of one another due to the overwhelming number of casualties. The Deir el-Balah cemetery has become so congested that gravediggers are compelled to bury new bodies atop existing graves, creating layers of interred remains.
Saadi Hassan Barakeh, a gravedigger with 28 years of experience, describes the situation as unprecedented. “The cemetery is so full that we now dig graves on top of other graves. We’ve piled the dead in levels,” he says. Barakeh, who previously worked at the Ansar cemetery, now handles the Al-Soueid cemetery alone due to the sheer volume of bodies.
The health ministry in Gaza reports a death toll surpassing 40,000 since the conflict began over 10 months ago. The overwhelming number of funerals has drastically increased, with Barakeh and his team burying 200 to 300 people weekly, compared to one or two funerals per week before the war.
Barakeh, who works from dawn until dusk, struggles with the emotional toll of his job, recounting harrowing scenes of death that disturb his sleep. “I can’t sleep after seeing so many mangled children’s bodies and dead women,” he says, noting the particularly tragic burial of 47 women from a single family.
