Gaza is facing an acute shortage of burial space after Israel’s ongoing attacks destroyed more than 40 cemeteries across the enclave, according to the report published on August 23, 2026. More than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed over more than two years, while families are increasingly burying relatives in gardens, schools, tents and displacement camps because established cemeteries lack capacity.

Omar al-Sawhi, 20, said his father Mohammed was shot dead on June 10 while working at a tea shop near the Israeli-designated “Yellow Line” in Gaza City’s Zeitoun area. With no space in Zeitoun cemetery and burial costs beyond the family’s means, Mohammed was buried in his grandfather’s grave. Since the war began, bodies have also been temporarily buried at hospitals and shelters.

After an October 2025 ceasefire, relatives began recovering bodies from rubble and temporary graves for reburial in cemeteries. Gaza authorities said 529 bodies were recovered from seven mass graves at hospitals. Burial costs have risen to 700–1,000 shekels amid shortages of construction materials and grave markers, prompting families to use stones, paper, mud and building debris as grave identifiers.