Too afraid to travel dangerous roads leading to their cemeteries in Gaza, Palestinian Christians are sinking their loved ones into the ground in Muslim cemeteries amid the chaos of the war between Israel and Hamas.
“I have been working in this cemetery for almost ten years and this is the first time in my life,” said Ihsan al-Natour, a worker at Tal al-Sultan cemetery, where a man picked up and laid down a shrouded body. it in a grave while a small child watched.
“I have never seen a Christian buried in a Muslim grave, but because of this war we had no choice but to bury him here.”
Since the war broke out six months ago, Israeli bombings have killed more than 33,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to figures from Gaza's health ministry. Some people have lost entire families.
Much of the coastal enclave has been turned into a wasteland, with buildings reduced to rubble and dust. Heavily damaged hospitals cannot cope with the victims, while hunger and possible famine add to the misery.
Traveling along roads that could be bombed or shelled only increases the fear of people trying to bury their dead. Israel has not yet allowed residents of northern Gaza, where the Christian cemetery is located, to return home.
Al-Natour said that Tal al-Sultan cemetery received the body of a Christian man named Hani Suheil Abu Dawood because it was too dangerous for his family to travel during the siege. They couldn't say goodbye to him properly.
“So we buried him here in the Tal al-Sultan cemetery. We make no distinction here between Muslims or Christians. He is buried among Muslims and there are no signs that he is a Christian,” he said.
Cooperation between Christians and Muslims is not unusual in Gaza.
“I have to take care of him because he is a Christian. We must protect God's creations on this earth,” al-Natour said.
“He is a human being, we respect people and value humanity and we love every person on earth. It is not in our nature as Muslims to hate humanity.”
The war broke out on October 7 when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israel from Gaza and killed 1,200 people, according to official Israeli figures, prompting the Israeli attack.
The cemetery is likely to host many more people as the Palestinian death toll rises every day.
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