In Gaza Cemeteries, Some Displaced Palestinians Live Among the Dead

DEIR AL BALAH, GAZA – OCTOBER 27: Civil society teams bring the 41 unidentified Palestinians’ bodies to a cemetery for burial procedures in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on October 27, 2025. As part of the cease-fire and exchange agreement in the Gaza Strip, the bodies of 41 unidentified Palestinians handed over by Israel were received from Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images)

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Skeletons are neighbors for some Palestinians in Gaza who found nowhere else but cemeteries to shelter from the war. Gravestones have become seats and tables for families in a dusty, sun-baked cemetery in the southern city of Khan Younis. Some 30 families shelter there. The vast majority of Gaza’s population of over 2 million people has been displaced by the two years of war between Hamas and Israel. With the ceasefire that began on Oct. 10, some have returned to what remains of their homes. Others are still crowded into the strip of remaining territory that Israeli forces don’t control.