At the heart of Khan Younis, surrounded by the relative silence of the gauze belt under the dedication fire, Shireen Talaba removes the cinder blocks from around the grave. She moved away as the men start digging, and the anxiety is sensitive. In the end, it takes a shovel and starts digging.
During the 15-month war of Israel-Hamas, the 37-year-old, in this temporary conspiracy about the country in the middle of the country in the middle of the ruins of the city, buried his brother Khaled and her two cousins, Khalil and Ibrahim.
After the war began on October 7, 2023, Shireen and her brother were displaced from a house in the city of Gaza and ended up in Khan Younis. He says Khaled insisted that if he was killed during the war, he wanted to be buried near their late mother in the city of Gaza. She vowed that when the war was over, he would take three men and bury them near their house.
“We came [south] Eight people, but unfortunately we will come back as five, “Mohamed El Saife told CBC free video designer.” They were the most precious things in my life. My brother and both relatives. ”
The best assistants of US President Donald Trump defended his Gaza takeover plan because critics – including world leaders, UN -A -and -Palestinians officers – condemn the idea.
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, more than 47,000 Palestinians were killed during the war in Gaza’s belt. But, ua January study Published in Medical Journal The Lancet, researchers found that between October 7, 2023 to June 30, 2024, the number of dead in Gaza was 41 percent higher than what the Ministry reported.
Shireen is not alone in her efforts to move the bodies of her loved ones. As the ceasefire continues, many families take advantage of the opportunity to reach the bodies buried in a hurry during the war and give them appropriate funerals at preferred locations.
Bringing them home
In June 2024, Khaled shot a quadcopter in Khan Younis, says Shireen, and was transported to a European Hospital in Central Gaza. The Russian doctor delegation performed surgery on the leg, but died of injuries a few days later on June 26.
Ibrahim was with friends in Khan Younis when the house where they were bombed in July 2024, and Khalil was killed in mid -October near the Kerem Shala border crossing near Rafah in southern Gazi, where he was looking for a job, says Shireen. They both died immediately.
All three were buried on the ground in Khan Younis, which was donated to use as a temporary cemetery.
While preparing to leave her tent at Khan Younis, Shireen says she has remained in the area so far, waiting for the war to end so her people could go home to the city of Gaza.
“We wanted to bring them home with us,” she said. “Even if they are tortured and dead, they can be close to us if we want to visit.”
It helps putting the body, now in new, white body bags, on a plain of a stroller that will take Khaled, Khalil and Ibrahim to their last resting place. It covers them with a brown blanket as the driver goes to the city of Gaza, which is about 25 kilometers north.
Shireen says many told her that digging the body does not make sense because they have been dead for so long. But she was determined to fulfill Khaled’s request and keep the boys close to her families.
Final goodbye
While the caravan arrives in the city of Gaza, a woman comes out of the building. It’s here to say goodbye to your sons.
Mona Talaba did not see Khalli or Ibrahim for over a year – they went south during the war, but she remained behind in the city of Gaza to wait for her in her hometown.
The 58-year-old matriarch puts his hand on the bodies while Shireen points out who is who. Mutnik mother patted every body bag with her hand and utters a prayer for boys through tears.
Other family members were gathered and headed to the Sheikh Radwan Cemetery in the City of Gaza.
“We were on the mission we were waiting for almost the whole war,” Shireen said of their plans to bring the bodies home. “I’m happy because I wanted them to be comfortable.”
In the middle of the ruins and destroyed buildings, Shireen helps to transfer three body bags to the grave. Their mother is buried here and where three men will be buried. They are set to rest side by side while Shireen and her family look at tears.
After a moment, Shireen jumped in to help, adding water to the sand to make a paste that would close the grave and shove some sand.
When the job is done, she is thinking about how things have turned out to be her family and says she hoped she would go back to Gaza City the way they left – together.
“But fate wouldn’t come back the same way,” she said. “I felt in peace when I moved them to Gaza.”
