In Gaza, rows of white shrouds symbolise mounting civilian deaths

GAZA, RAFA, CAIRO — "My life, my eyes, my soul," a husband writes on the white shroud wrapped around his wife after the war devastating Gaza took her life.

A bereaved son writes "my mother and everything" on the burial cloth covering his mother, another of the more than 21,000 Palestinians killed in the Israel-Hamas confrontation.

Over the past 12 weeks the piece of white cloth has become a symbol of civilian deaths wrought by Israel as it retaliates for Hamas killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages in its October 7 attack.