Gaza’s British cemeteries are the only ones Israel isn’t destroying
British cemeteries in the Tuffah neighbourhood in the north of Gaza
Abubaker Abed reports in Middle East Eye on 26 June 2024
In the Gaza Strip there are two cemeteries that contain the remains of British soldiers, most of whom died fighting in World War One, a few of whom died in World War Two.
Owned by the UK-based Commonwealth War Graves Commission, they are known locally as the British graveyards, and are regarded as a major cultural and archaeological site in the Palestinian enclave.
Adorned by bushes and surrounded by tall cypress trees and a low wall against which various flowers are in bloom in a calm atmosphere, hundreds of Gazans have for years visited them to relax.
The Gaza War Cemetery lies in al-Tuffah neighbourhood in the north of Gaza. It has 3,217 graves, of which 781 are unidentified. Second World War burials number 210. There are 30 post-war burials and 234 war graves of other nationalities.
The other is located in the north of Deir al-Balah, in the area of al-Zwayda. Inside it lie 724 soldiers, all of them British. Some of the cemetery’s earliest burials were made by British soldiers involved in the battle for Gaza with the Ottoman Empire in 1917 and 1918. During the Second World War, British Empire forces – mostly Australian – ran a number of hospitals in Gaza.
Both cemeteries have survived since Israel’s war on Gaza began, just as they have survived many conflicts before. In 2006, the Gaza War Cemetery was partially damaged by an Israeli missile. Israel paid £90,000 as compensation. In addition, about 350 headstones needed repair after Israel’s three-week assault on Gaza in 2009.
Few areas of Gaza have been spared the onslaught of Israel’s latest military operation. But compared with the scores of Palestinian graveyards left in ruins by the assault, the British cemeteries appear to have been consciously avoided.