Bodies with names: Inside Gaza's cemetery of the missing

Unmarked graves in Deir el-Balah hold unidentified bodies and missing persons whose identities could not be confirmed. Lina al-Assi visits one grave regularly, believing it may be her husband’s resting place. Jihad Tafesh disappeared on October 8, 2023, the second day of the war, after Lina fled with their children while he stayed behind with his parents in Gaza City’s Shujayea area. She searched during brief pauses in bombardment and later contacted the Red Cross, receiving no concrete information about whether he was detained, injured, or killed. Identification codes were placed on unknown graves, and a 2025 ceasefire enabled transfers of bodies through the Red Cross, though identities remained uncertain.

"Beside an unmarked grave, Lina al-Assi sits quietly picking flowers and pouring water over the soil, believing it to be her husband's resting place. Jihad Tafesh went missing at the beginning of Israel's genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023. Lina is a regular visitor to the site, one of about 1,200 where unidentified bodies and missing persons who could not be identified are buried."

"Lina says she lost contact with her husband on October 8, 2023, on the second day of the war. Under heavy Israeli bombardment, he stayed behind in their home in Gaza City's Shujayea area with his parents, while she fled with their children. She searched for Jihad in the lulls between Israeli attacks, but she couldn't find him, and no concrete information about his fate ever reached her."

"We contacted the Red Cross to check his fate, but with no result, she says. We did not know whether he was detained, injured, or killed. Nothing. Officials in Deir el-Balah put identification codes on unknown graves, reflecting the effort to track bodies when families cannot receive confirmed identities."

"The October 2025 ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas allowed Lina to focus on her search for Jihad, particularly after Israel began transferring the bodies of dead Palestinians to Gaza as part of the agreement. Bodies were transferred in stages via the Red Cross to the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, with 285 bodies received by November 5."

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