Gravestones have change into seats and tables for households like that of Maisa Brikah, who has lived along with her youngsters in a dusty, sun-baked cemetery within the southern metropolis of Khan Younis for 5 months. Some 30 households shelter right here.
A blonde-haired toddler sits outdoors one tent, operating fingers via the sand. Another peeks playfully from behind a drape of material.
Mohammed Barabakh sits on a grave along with his youngsters on the entrance to his tent, that was arrange in a cemetery in Khan Younis, within the southern Gaza Strip, on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. | Photo Credit: AP
Nighttime is one other matter.
“When the solar goes down, the kids get scared and do not wish to go, and I’ve a couple of youngsters, 4 small ones,” Ms. Brikah stated. “They are afraid to exit due to the canines at night time, and the useless.”
The overwhelming majority of Gaza’s inhabitants of over 2 million folks has been displaced by the 2 years of struggle between Hamas and Israel. With the ceasefire that started on October 10, some have returned to what stays of houses. Others are nonetheless crowded into the strip of remaining territory that Israeli forces do not management.
Here and in different cemeteries in Gaza, there’s life among the many useless. A prayer rug hangs on a line. A baby pushes a water jug on a wheelchair between the graves. Smoke rises from a cooking fireplace.
One of Brikah’s nearest neighbours is Ahmad Abu Said, who died in 1991 on the age of 18, in keeping with the carving on his tombstone that begins with strains from the Quran. There is unease, a sense of disrespect, at organising camp right here.
Makeshift tents for displaced Palestinians are seen arrange subsequent to graves in a cemetery at sundown in Khan Younis, within the southern Gaza Strip, on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. | Photo Credit: AP
But there’s little alternative. Brikah stated her household’s dwelling elsewhere in Khan Younis was destroyed. There isn’t any return for now. Israeli forces occupy their neighbourhood.
Other residents of this cemetery come from Gaza’s north. They are sometimes removed from the land the place their very own family members are buried.
Mohammed Shmah stated he has been dwelling right here for 3 months. He stated his home had been destroyed, too.
“I’m a grown man, however I nonetheless get frightened of the graves at night time. I cover in my tent,” he stated, perched on a damaged tombstone and squinting within the solar. He stated he had solely 200 shekels (round $60) on him when a good friend took it to assist deliver his household to the cemetery.
The lack of cash for shelter elsewhere is one motive protecting households dwelling among the many graves, stated Hanan Shmah, Mohammed’s spouse. With care, she washed dishes in a soapy container the dimensions of a pie tin, guarding treasured water.
Living among the many graves
“Of course, life within the cemetery is filled with concern, dread and worries, and you do not sleep along with the stress we expertise,” she stated.
There isn’t any assure of security, even among the many useless. Israeli forces have bombed cemeteries through the struggle, in keeping with the United Nations and different observers. Israel has accused Hamas of utilizing some cemeteries for canopy, and has argued that the websites lose their safety when they’re used for navy functions.
During the struggle, our bodies in Gaza had been buried wherever they might, together with in hospital courtyards. According to customized, Palestinian households are buried close to family members. The preventing has largely disrupted that.
Now, with the ceasefire, the search is on for the useless.
Israel presses Hamas to show over the stays of hostages. Palestinian well being officers put up grotesque images of our bodies returned by Israel within the hope that households can determine them. Others search Gaza’s huge stretches of rubble for our bodies that the preventing lengthy made unable to say.
The demise toll in Gaza from the struggle — now over 68,800 — has jumped by a whole lot because the ceasefire started from the restoration of such stays alone.
Families on this Khan Younis cemetery have watched the arrival of recent additions, typically buried not underneath slabs however underneath sand, marked off by stones.
Recovery, reconstruction, return. All really feel distant.
“After the ceasefire, my life is similar contained in the cemetery, which means I gained nothing,” Mohammed Shmah stated.
