BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip (AP) – In the morgue at a small Gaza hospital, the anguished cries of those who lost loved ones in Israeli airstrikes fell silent Thursday when Ahmed Jadallah began attending to the corpses, one by one, on his wooden work table.
With swift, steady movements, Jadallah swaddled a toddler in a white burial shroud and later gently cleaned the soot-stained face of the child’s father – Islamic rituals that momentarily reassured the grieving.
Father and son had been killed earlier in the day, along with the child’s grandparents and uncle, when an airstrike on an adjacent house sent debris flying into the family’s living room.
Over the past three decades, the 75-year-old Jadallah has dressed hundreds of “martyrs” – those killed in conflict with Israel. He said that his volunteer work fulfills an Islamic commandment and that he hopes it will earn him a place in paradise.
Despite his faith, he has found it harder to deal with the casualties from this round of fighting with Israel than from previous ones, especially when children end up on his table.