Most of the enclave’s 2.3 million people are homeless. (document)
Palestinian territories:
The devastating conflict cast a pall over Eid al-Fitr, with Palestinians visiting the graves of loved ones killed in Gaza’s war and praying beside the ruins of a mosque and in shattered streets.
Millions of Muslims around the world are celebrating Eid al-Fitr, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, with festivities, feasts and family gatherings.
But few in Gaza can take comfort from this special moment for Muslims. After six months of war, their focus is on surviving Israeli air strikes, artillery bombardments, ground offensives and humanitarian crises.
Amani Mansour and her mother stood at their youngest son’s grave, recalling happy times. She said the last Eid was the best Eid of her life.
“My son was right next to me, in my arms, getting him ready. Everything he wanted I did for him,” she said.
“I wish he could be with me. He would go to the mosque in the morning and say to me ‘Get ready for my gifts when I come back’. Gone. Everything good in my life is gone.”
“Sad for days gone by”
In good times, people like Mahmoud Hamed in the southern Gaza city of Rafah gather with family and friends during Eid celebrations and feasts.
Hamed said: “Compared to last year’s Eid, this day is heartbreaking for me. I look at my children and I feel heartbroken. When I sit with them, I start Crying, grieving for the days gone by.” Now confined to a wheelchair after being wounded by Israeli troops.
“I remember Eid last year and I remember Eid this year. Last Eid, I was surrounded by children and looked at them with joy. But today I am injured and cannot move or go anywhere.”
Instead, he endured Israeli airstrikes that reduced much of Gaza, a densely populated enclave controlled by Hamas, into rows of rubble and dust.
According to Israeli statistics, the war broke out on October 7 when Palestinian Islamic groups rushed across the border and wreaked havoc in southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages.
Israel responded with heavy airstrikes and ground incursions, killing more than 33,000 Palestinians, injuring more than 75,000 and creating a humanitarian crisis.
Most of the enclave’s 2.3 million people are homeless. Hospitals have been destroyed, medicines are in short supply, and many Gazans are at risk of famine.
When Palestinians look around the Gaza Strip, there is little to celebrate. Israel says it will continue to exert military pressure until Hamas is destroyed.
Children played among the broken cement and twisted metal left behind by the airstrikes near the ruins of the Rafah Farouk mosque that was hit in the Israeli attack.
Another resident, Abu Shaer, called on his fellow Muslims to try to draw some strength from the Eid holiday.
“Despite the immense pain and continued killings by the Zionists in the last six months of our lives, we must show joy on this day,” he said.
Prayers and Protests
Worshipers knelt in the street next to the ruins of the mosque, placing their prayer mats in the shadow of the white minaret that still stands amid the razed building.
More than a million people have flocked to Rafah in southern Gaza on the border with Egypt, fleeing bombings of their homes to the north.
This is the last relatively safe place in Gaza. But Israel has repeatedly said it plans to attack Rafah to destroy the remaining Hamas battalions.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, where many have experienced war and sectarian bloodshed, Muslims prayed for an end to the war.
“We ask God to bring near relief and victory to our brothers in Palestine,” said Omar Nizar Karim of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. “This is our message today from this sacred place to the people of Gaza and the people of Palestine Information.”
In Jordan, pro-Palestinians gathered near the Israeli embassy in Amman to express solidarity with the people of Gaza.
“The title of today’s protest is ‘Gaza is wiped out, there will be no Eid,'” Abdul Majid Rantisi said. “Our Eid is the day when the resistance wins and Gaza wins.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
