The tragedy of displacement in the Gaza Strip is embodied in its harshest forms in the story of citizen Mazen Younis's family, who found no refuge from the ravages of the Israeli aggression except the cemetery of the Austrian neighborhood in the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis. This family, consisting of ten members, was forced to leave their home in the Manara neighborhood, embarking on a journey of dispersion that ended among the graves of the dead, in the complete absence of safe shelter options.
The head of the family, burdened by illness and worry, recounts how he returned from a medical treatment trip in the West Bank in 2025 only to be shocked by the bitter reality his family was living. He found his children and wife facing inhumane conditions, where the cemetery had become a makeshift dwelling lacking the most basic necessities for a dignified life, amidst a complete international silence regarding the suffering of civilians.
For more than a year and a half, the family has been living inside a primitive tent surrounded by worn-out canvas barriers separating them from tombstones and graves. The suffering is exacerbated by the spread of insects, rodents, and scorpions, which have become a constant threat to the lives of young children, who spend their day in an unhealthy environment lacking potable water or sanitation.
Field sources reported that Mazen Younis's health has deteriorated significantly, as he suffers from heart disease and a sharp decline in his weight, which dropped from 120 kilograms to 67 kilograms. Younis attributes this deterioration to his difficult psychological state and malnutrition, as well as his feeling of helplessness in meeting his children's basic needs, which he cannot provide.
Mazen's young daughters bear a burden beyond their years, as they go out daily on arduous journeys to fetch water and secure meals from charitable 'takayas' (soup kitchens). Instead of going to school, they spend long hours in queues, reflecting the extent of the loss faced by an entire generation of Gaza's children due to the ongoing war and displacement.
For her part, Mazen's wife described living in the cemetery as 'a complete marginalization of humanity,' noting that the scorching summer heat makes staying inside the canvas tents unbearable. She confirmed that the family lacks cooking gas and essential life supplies, forcing them to rely on very primitive means to manage their simple daily affairs.
The Younis family's situation is not an isolated exception in the Gaza Strip; rather, it is part of a painful phenomenon observed by journalistic sources, where thousands of displaced people have set up their tents inside the western cemeteries in Khan Yunis. These displaced people, most of whom came from the northern part of the Strip, found themselves crowding the dead in their places after the earth, despite its vastness, became too narrow for them.
Reports from the area indicate that the cemeteries are no longer even large enough for the dead, yet they are crowded with hundreds of families searching for lost safety. Observers describe the scene as 'very harsh,' especially when children play among the graves, in a reality that forces them to coexist with death and destruction on a daily and direct basis.
The plea made by Mazen Younis remains a cry in the wilderness, demanding the necessity of neutralizing children and civilians from the war machine and providing shelter that preserves their dignity. With the aggression continuing, these families remain caught between the hammer of displacement and the anvil of living in cemeteries, awaiting a solution that will end this humanitarian tragedy that has exceeded all limits.
My children fetch water and get tired instead of going to school, and they have nothing to do with this war waged by the occupation.
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Among the Graves.. The Story of a Gazan Family Displaced by Aggression to Khan Yunis Cemeteries