"People were forced to come here to this safe place, which is the cemetery among the dead," said Amer, who is displaced from Al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza with 11 family members including children and grandchildren. Israel has threatened to storm the area with tanks when it finishes a battle in Khan Younis just north of it. The cemetery has neat rows of low cement graves that pre-date the war, with plants and flowers growing on them, inscriptions and peeling paint. "The dead are in comfort while we, the living, are in pain and going through very tough conditions. "I see the children, our children, playing among and above the graves," said Amer.

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Persons: Mohammed Salem, Mahmoud Amer, Amer, Israel's, Khan Younis, Estelle Shirbon, Peter Graff Organizations: Al Locations: Mohammed Salem RAFAH, Gaza, Rafah, Israel, Egypt, Palestinian