Gaza hospitals turn to ice cream trucks as morgues overflow
Health officials in the Gaza Strip have begun storing the bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes in ice cream freezer trucks, as hospitals run out of space and cemeteries reach capacity. The makeshift morgues highlight the mounting humanitarian toll of the conflict, now in its second week.
Dr Yasser Ali of the Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah said the facility's main morgue can hold only 10 bodies. “So we have brought in ice cream freezers from the ice cream factories in order to store the huge numbers of martyrs,” he told reporters. The trucks, still bearing advertising images of smiling children with ice cream cones, now hold rows of white-shrouded bodies.
What is the current death toll in Gaza?
Authorities in Gaza say Israeli air strikes have killed more than 2,300 people, a quarter of them children, with nearly 10,000 wounded. The Israeli military launched the bombardment after Hamas gunmen crossed into Israel on 7 October, killing 1,300 people and seizing hostages in the deadliest attack on the country in decades.
Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas, and officials expect the Gaza death count to rise sharply as a ground assault looms. The Israeli military said it would still allow Gazans to evacuate south ahead of the expected operation.
Why are hospitals and cemeteries overwhelmed?
Moving bodies to hospitals has become too risky amid ongoing strikes, and cemeteries are running out of space. Dr Ali said between 20 and 30 bodies are also being kept in tents outside the hospital. “The Gaza Strip is in crisis and if the war continues in this way we will not be able to bury the dead,” he said. “The cemeteries are already full and we need new ones.”
In Gaza City, authorities are preparing mass graves. Salama Marouf, head of the Government Media Office, said a mass grave has been prepared to bury approximately 100 bodies at the emergency cemetery, as relatives have not come forward to claim the dead at Al-Shifa Hospital.
What are the concerns for civilian casualties?
Health professionals fear the number of civilian casualties may rise as Israel urges hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee Gaza ahead of the expected ground assault. Hospitals are running short of supplies and struggling to cope with the growing numbers of wounded.
The situation has drawn international attention to the worsening humanitarian conditions in the enclave, where basic services are strained and the capacity to care for the dead and wounded is being stretched to its limits.