GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A 12-year-old child sits under a tree in al-Faluja cemetery, southwest of Jabalia refugee camp in north Gaza, shading himself from the rays of the burning sun. He waits for grave visitors to arrive, to offer them a few services in exchange for money.

In the afternoon, Hassan (a pseudonym) notices a man passing by. He grabs the plastic water bottles he filled from the tap water in the cemetery and a broom, and follows the visitor to the grave. The boy dusts the tombstone and waters the plants surrounding it, then asks the man for a shekel or two (31 to 61 US cents).

Hassan is one of many children who turned to begging in cemeteries because of the rising poverty rates in the besieged enclave. Food insecurity in the Gaza Strip has reached 70%, while poverty and unemployment rates have reached around 75% in 2019, with 33.8% of the population falling under the extreme poverty line, according to the Ministry of Social Development in Gaza.

Hassan also provides the mud used to fill the gaps during burials, in return for some money from the family of the deceased or the funeral director, Jaber. He says he receives 5 shekels ($1.53) for it.