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Displaced from his home, like most of Gaza's population of 2.3
million, Ahmed spends his days at Tal Al-Sultan cemetery in the
Rafah area, preparing rows of graves in the sandy terrain and
marking them with cement blocks for lack of gravestones.
"As a human being who has feelings, it feels heavy to go from
building villas and apartments, which I love, to building
graves," said Ahmed.
"My job was difficult, yes, but I'd go home with a sense of
achievement. I made new things, every day a different building,
a different decor. I went home in a good mood."
Now, every day brings dead bodies and processions of bereaved
relatives.
"I see different people but with the same faces, with the same
suffering. It's depressing," said Ahmed.
"We have two mass graves here, nearly 80 martyrs over here, and
100 more martyrs over there."
The war began on Oct. 7 when militants from the Islamist group
Hamas, which has run Gaza since 2007, attacked southern Israel,
killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostage, according to
Israeli authorities.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel has responded with an air and
ground assault that has laid waste to much of the Palestinian
territory. Gaza's health ministry said on Thursday the death
toll had passed 30,000.
"The number keeps increasing. I wish I could stop doing this
work," said Ahmed.
With the certainty that more bodies will arrive, Ahmed and other
volunteers have been preparing empty graves in long rows in
advance.
"I wish this war would end so that we don't have to build graves
anymore, but instead build this country, rebuild it," he said.
(Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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