Martyrs' Funeral: Video Report

In the chaos of Gaza, violence is reflected even in funerals.

As part of his reporting in Gaza, Kevin Sites visited the morgue of Kamal Odwan Hospital. Two suspected militants killed in an Israeli missile strike were being presented for identification. The next day, Kevin followed the chaotic funeral procession for the two men.

You can watch Kevin's narrated video report, or read the transcript below.

In Gaza, the mourning of the dead is quite a spectacle.

On this night, a Wednesday night in the Gaza strip, two men from the al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades had been killed by Israeli missiles. According to news reports, they were trying to fire rockets into southern

Images of a "martyrs' funeral" in Gaza.   In Gaza death can be as chaotic as life.

On this night the men come to the morgue, hundreds of Palestinian men trying to identify the bodies, to see if they are family members or relatives. They actually push their way inside and try to look inside the vault, and see if they can actually recognize the men, putting out video cameras and cell phones to take their picture. Some, when they actually leave, are relieved; others are grieving by what they recognize as a friend or a family member.

This doctor from the hospital wants the men to leave so he can dress the bodies, and give them a proper preparation for their burial the next day.

Now there is a procession where the bodies are carried to the cemetery. Even before it begins there is chaos, as a tire explodes nearby and the men think they are being attacked by Israelis. They begin to fire their weapons in the air. There are literally hundreds of men with guns, all firing their weapons — and those bullets have to come back down again somewhere.

Now they are carrying the body through the streets, and it's just chaos. There is shouting and screaming, and firing of weapons. The body is carried. It's draped in a yellow flag, the flag of the

I worked with a Palestinian journalist who had me run down a back alleyway so I could meet up with the procession again, climb a telephone booth and get a high shot, just as the bodies were being carried around the corner.

You can see there are thousands of men, streaming through the streets, still firing their weapons.

Some observers in Israel feel the Fatah Party has increased its violence after its loss in the elections to Hamas.

Here the body is being handed through the crowd to be placed in the crypt. The white linen, the traditional burial cloth for Muslims, is draped with the blood from the man's killing. He's put in a crypt that's made of cinder block, and there are stones placed over it. His mother nearby is alternately shouting and crying.

This is a scene that would be repeated several times that week, as four other Palestinians were killed as they tried to fire Qassam rockets into Israel.

Email Story IM Story

RECOMMEND THIS STORY

Recommend It:

Not at All Somewhat Moderately Highly Very Highly

Average (Not Rated)

ALSO ON YAHOO!