The war between Israel and Hamas

Over 40,000 killed in Gaza: Make graves upon graves

Martina Karpmyr

Published 20.22

The gravedigger Sa'di Baraka. Photo: Abdel Kareem Hana / AP

The ongoing negotiations in Qatar are described as a last chance to bring about a truce between Israel and Hamas.

At the same time, over 40,000 people in Gaza are now said to have been killed in Israeli attacks.

- We sometimes make graves on top of graves, says gravedigger Sa'di Baraka to AP.
Yesterday, new negotiations on a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas began in Qatar. Mediators from the US, Qatar and Egypt met with representatives from Israel. Hamas chose not to participate.

After two days of negotiations on a ceasefire in  Gaza, the talks have ended to be taken up again after the weekend, AP writes.

The goal is to resume negotiations next week in Cairo to reach an agreement on a ceasefire.

But Hamas says no to the new terms that are on the table, according to sources to AFP.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to attack both Jabalia in the north and Rafah and Khan Yunis in Gaza.
Over 40,000 have been killed

The number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks now exceeds 40,000, the Gaza Health Authority announced on Thursday. That is almost two percent of the total population of the Gaza Strip before October 7.

The majority of those killed are civilians, almost 16,000 are children.16 000 are children.

When Mohammed Abu al-Qumsan was with the authorities to register the birth, the four-day-old twins, his wife and mother-in-law were killed. Photo: Ashraf Amra/Anadolu

"Most of the dead are women and children. This unimaginable situation is due in large part to the repeated failure of the Israeli army to abide by the rules of war,” UN human rights chief Volker Türk said in a statement, calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Hamas controls the Gaza Strip and the health authority. Israel has repeatedly claimed that the figures are therefore not credible. But during previous wars against the Gaza Strip, the death tolls from the health authority and medical personnel have been reliable.

Israel has not released its own estimate of how many civilians were killed.
At least 10,000 during the racial masses

The actual death toll in Gaza is higher than 40,000.

"This figure only includes bodies received and buried," Dr Marwan al-Hams, head of the Palestinian Authority's field hospital, told The Guardian yesterday.

Almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip has been forced to flee. Photo: Abdel Kareem Hana / AP

At least 10,000 Palestinians are estimated, according to the health authority, to be buried under buildings that collapsed during Israeli airstrikes. The bodies could not be exhumed due to a lack of fuel and equipment, according to Marwan al-Hams.

- That's enough now, we want to go back to our homes in Gaza City. Every hour a family is killed or a house is bom bed, 30-year-old Aya, who together with her family sought shelter in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, told Reuters.

- We are hopeful this time. It's either now or never, I'm afraid, says Aya about the negotiations in Qatar.

The photographer lost 270 relatives

During the past ten months, almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip has been forced to flee. There is a shortage of both food, medicines and other necessities in the area.

The Palestinians killed indirectly by the war – for example by starvation or disease – have not been counted in the official figures.

- I don't know how to explain how it feels to see the bodies of your loved ones lying on the ground, scattered, a piece of flesh here and a bone there, Haneen Salem, a Palestinian photographer and writer, told AP.

Since October 7, Salem has lost 270 relatives, AP writes.

- After the war, if we are still alive, we will dig a new grave and spread roses and water over it for their good souls.