The child workers who maintain Gaza's cemeteries

Mahmoud, a 12-year-old Gazan boy, spends more than nine hours a day between the graves of the Sheikh Radwan cemetery in the center of Gaza City. He stares at the cemetery gate, waiting for a grave visitor or funeral procession.

Mahmoud offers to keep the tombs of the deceased clean and planted with flowers in exchange for a small sum. He does this to avoid problems with his father, who beats him and threatens to kick him out of the house if he doesn’t collect enough money by the end of the day.

According to data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), “There are about 65,000 working children in the Palestinian territories, accounting for 6% of all children in the 5-14 age range. Some are paid, others are not.”

In its annual report issued in 2012, the PCBS said that 8% of children aged 5-14 work in the West Bank, while 3.1% of the same age group work in the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, 7.7% of male children (aged 5-14) in the Palestinian territories work, while among females this rate is 4.2%. Mahmoud, who appears to be extremely tired, wanders among the graves, carrying a small bucket of water in one hand and a bouquet of roses in the other. He sprays water on graves and removes the grass from around the tombstone to plant flowers instead.

While spraying water on a marble tomb that appears to be new, he told Al-Monitor, “My father took me out of school two years ago. He told me I am only supposed to work, and forced me to come to this cemetery every day to ask visitors for money in return for taking care of the graves of their loved ones on a regular basis.” more

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