Gazans open old graves to bury their new dead

Medical officials in Strip say more than 970 Palestinians killed in "Israeli" offensive. Deep ground incursion made it impossible for residents to reach Martyrs Cemetery in Gaza City; gravedigger: Gaza is all a graveyard.

After three infants from the Samouni family were killed in shelling, relatives bundled up the boys' tiny bodies and hastily buried them in the grave of a long-dead aunt.

There was no space in the crammed Gaza City graveyard and it was too dangerous to reach the area's only cemetery with space to dig fresh graves.

More than two weeks into a blistering "Israeli" offensive that Palestinian medical officials say has killed more than 970 Palestinians, Gazans are struggling to find places to bury their dead. One family buried their slain son with his grandfather. Another man was buried with his cousin. Cemeteries throughout Gaza City that were closed for burial have now reopened.

"Gaza is all a graveyard," said gravedigger Salman Omar, who said he has been busy since "Israel's" operation began.

The densely populated Gaza Strip, just 25 miles (40 kilometers) long by about 6 miles (10kilometers) wide, has always suffered from a shortage of burial space. But "Israel's" shelling and deep ground incursion has made it impossible for residents to reach Martyrs Cemetery, the only open graveyard in eastern Gaza City, at a time when there's a rush of people needing burial.

"Israel's" offensive is aimed at crushing Hamas. But Palestinian medical officials believe over half of the dead, including the Samouni cousins, are civilians.

"We buried them quickly," said Iyad Samouni, 26, from al-Awda hospital in Gaza City, where he was being treated for shrapnel wounds. "We were afraid we'd be shelled. My relatives were trying to open other graves to prepare for the other dead but we didn't get time."

Samouni said the family fled the graveyard after they came under fire from a warplane.

The children were killed in what the family and the UN says was an "Israeli" shelling attack on a house in eastern Gaza where soldiers had ordered them to stay to avoid nearby fighting.