Like bricklayers in a construction site, undertakers in a Gaza cemetery are stacking cinder blocks into tight rectangles, side by side, for newly dug graves.
After more than 10 months of the Gaza war, the cemetery in Deir el-Balah is receiving such an overwhelming number of bodies that there is hardly enough space to bury them, with some graves now being dug on top of existing ones.
Saadi Hassan Barakeh, who has been burying the dead for 28 years, leads the team of gravediggers and notes that the current situation is unprecedented in his experience during all the wars in Gaza.
Barakeh also recalls overseeing burials at the nearby Ansar cemetery which is now completely full due to the high number of deceased, leading them to focus solely on the Al-Soueid cemetery.
The increase in burials is staggering, with Barakeh mentioning a significant rise from one or two funerals per week before the war to sometimes burying 200 to 300 people in a week.
The death toll of just over 40,000 people in Gaza during the war has put immense strain on both the people and the cemeteries, with Barakeh and his team working tirelessly from dawn till dusk to handle the influx of bodies.
Mounds of freshly dug soil and white headstones fill the cemetery space, while the rising cost of cinder blocks due to factory closures adds to the challenges faced by the workers.
Despite the somber atmosphere, Barakeh laments the diminishing attendance at funerals, noting the contrast from the times when thousands would gather to mourn compared to the current situation where only a handful see the deceased to their final resting place.
The constant hum of an Israeli surveillance drone above serves as a grim reminder of the ongoing threat that continues to contribute to the flow of bodies into the cemetery.
AFP.