Families in Gaza are struggling to find burial space as they recover relatives from rubble, gardens, tents and other temporary burial sites created during the war. Gaza authorities say more than 40 cemeteries have been destroyed, while many existing burial grounds were already full before the conflict.
The shortage has forced families to reuse graves and rely on improvised markers. In Gaza City’s Zeitoun Cemetery, Omar al-Sawhi said his family could not afford a new grave for his father, Mohammad, and found no available space, so they buried him in Omar’s grandfather’s grave.
Why families are moving remains
Mohammad al-Sawhi, 40, was shot in the neck on June 10 while working at a roadside tea and coffee stall near the “Yellow Line”, an Israeli-designated military zone, according to the source report. His son Omar later went to recover and rebury him after a relative reduction in violence followed a United States-brokered ceasefire in October 2025.
The breakdown of services and dangers from attacks left thousands of dead Palestinians counted as missing. Bodies were buried in gardens, tents, displacement camps, schools and hospital grounds. Authorities in Gaza said remains of 529 Palestinians were recovered from seven mass graves on hospital grounds.
Destroyed cemeteries and rising costs
The Gaza Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs says more than 40 cemeteries have been destroyed since the war began. Access restrictions in areas under Israeli control have further reduced the burial spaces available to families, while sites intended for cemeteries have sometimes been converted into shelters for displaced people.
The ministry says burial costs now range from 700 shekels, about $235, to 1,000 shekels, about $335, because materials such as headstones are scarce. Families may use masonry from destroyed buildings, mud or corrugated metal sheets as temporary grave markers. A grave at Zeitoun Cemetery costs about 500 shekels, or $167, according to the source report.
Cemeteries are operating beyond capacity
Ikrami al-Madallal, a media official at the Endowments Ministry, said many of Gaza’s 60 cemeteries were already at full capacity when the war began. The ministry is searching for new burial grounds, but it says transferring bodies from temporary sites must be coordinated with the Ministry of Endowments, local government and other relevant authorities.
At Khan Younis Cemetery, gravedigger Tafesh Abu Hatab said the site had about 60 graves at the start of the war and now contains 6,000. During one period, he prepared about 35 graves a day. He said many of the dead were women and children, including infants, and that entire families were sometimes buried after buildings, vehicles or tents were destroyed.
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