People in Gaza Strip bury their martyrs in courtyards of their houses

In the land of Gaza, a survivor recounts this scene: “We buried our martyrs in the courtyards of homes because we were unable to reach the cemeteries, due to the intensity of the Israeli occupation’s bombing, which is destroying homes, including those in the besieged Gaza Strip. The situation is catastrophic, the bodies and remains of the martyrs are under the rubble in the neighborhoods of Asqoula, Al-Shuja’iya, and Al-Zaytoun in Gaza City.” This is what it was like for Osama Al-Samuni, who survived a massacre committed by the occupation in Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, which applies to hundreds and perhaps thousands of cases in the Gaza Strip.

Al-Samuni recounted heartbreaking stories about the condition of the martyrs and the inability to bury them, saying: “Three martyrs from one family, we could not reach the cemetery to bury them in light of the intensity of the occupation’s bombing of homes, so we dug a mass grave in the courtyard of their house that was falling apart and buried them in one grave after writing their names on their shrouds”.

Al-Samuni explained that hundreds of martyrs and missing persons are still under the rubble of destroyed homes in the neighborhoods of Al-Zaytoun, Al-Shuja’iya, and Tal Al-Hawa in Gaza, warning of a health catastrophe in the light of the inability to bury the martyrs in some areas that are subjected to continuous Israeli bombing.

Muhammad Hassouna from the Shuja’iya neighborhood pointed out that the day before yesterday, the occupation warplanes and artillery destroyed more than 50 residential buildings in the neighborhood, leading to the death and injury of hundreds of children and women, including eight martyrs from his family members, stressing that what the occupation is doing is genocide, and that the Civil Defense Medical teams are still unable to recover the bodies of the martyrs and rescue the wounded from under the rubble of homes due to the comprehensive destruction caused by the occupation.

The Palestinian human rights and health institutions indicate that more than 7,500 missing persons are still under the rubble of destroyed homes and buildings which number more than 300,000.

Leen Al Salman