Bodies pile up in Gaza: there are bodies in ice cream trucks and morgues are full

In the south of Gaza strip graves are dug. In other places, bodies are placed in ice cream vendors’ trucks or a mass grave is prepared. In every corner of this Palestinian enclave bombed by Israelthe bodies pile up.

In retaliation for the bloody attack carried out by commandos of the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas launched in Israeli territory on October 7, The army of that country launches missiles and bombs without pause against the Gaza Stripplaced under total siege since October 9th.

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it is wartriggered by that unprecedented attack of Hamaswhich continues to fire rockets into Israeli territory, It caused more than 1,400 deaths in Israel and at least 2,750 in the Gaza Stripwhere 2.4 million people live in 362 km2.

In the center of this enclave, In the parking lot of Deir el Balah hospital, a white truck that until recently transported ice cream was recycled to respond to the flow of bodies.

At one of the doors refrigerated vehicle You can see a photograph of a girl tasting ice cream. On the other, a selection of ice creams that promise to be “crunchy”. Inside, bodies wrapped in makeshift shrouds are piled up.

Palestinian relatives wait to collect bodies wrapped in shrouds with their names written for identification, at a hospital in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, on October 16, 2023. (Photo by SAID KHATIB/AFP). (Said Khatib/)

“At dawn (on Sunday), two bombs fell on the house. There were 16 people, including eight children, who were sleeping peacefully,” says Talaat Abou Lashine, a family member.

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In the city of Linkwhere many inhabitants left as a result of the violent bombings and the appeal launched by Israel evacuate the north of the territory, There are bodies that have not been claimed.

“Seeing the large number of (bodies of) martyrs within the Al Shifa Hospital Mortuaries that were not recovered by their families and the continuous arrival of martyrs by the dozens (…), a mass grave was prepared to bury around 100 martyrs”, announced the head of the Hamas government’s information office, Salama Maruf.

Many kids

“Every story that comes out of Gaza is one of survival, hopelessness and loss”lamented the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, who reported the beginning of a shortage of shrouds in the Palestinian territory.

“Sometimes we don’t have time to write the names” of the dead, they are so numerous, says Ihsan Al Natur, who works in a cemetery in Rafah (south).

“There are many children among the martyrs”, he adds. “We put three or four per grave.”

Muslim tradition demands burial as soon as possible.

The Gaza Ministry of Religious Affairs considered that it was “necessary” to quickly bury the deceased and that due to the number of dead and the scarcity of graves It was advisable to bring the bodies together in the same tomb.

In Rafain the south, where residents of the north of the territory who fear a ground offensive by the Israeli army took refuge, pits were dug in the sand in advance, one next to the other, and bricks and slabs were placed around and inside to receive bodies.

In a well, the bodies of three children are piled up.

Hamas estimated on Monday that 1,000 bodies were trapped under the rubble and warned of a “humanitarian catastrophe” and the spread of disease.

Source: Elcomercio