Palestinians in the Gaza Strip solemnly marked the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr between ruins and the threat of further air raids on Sunday.
Instead of the usual cheer at the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, the streets were silent and many people exchanged condolences for lost relatives, rather than wishing each other a happy Eid, eyewitnesses said.
Many people are instead preoccupied by Israel’s resumption of bombings of the Gaza Strip after a brief ceasefire.
“I used to dress my children in their best clothes and visit relatives with them,” Amina Al-Nadjar from the city of Rafah told dpa.
Now her three children are asking why they don’t have anything new to wear for the holiday. “How can I tell them that we barely have enough to eat?” the mother said, stroking her daughter’s torn dress.
The air in the Gaza Strip was not filled with the typical sweet scent of holiday baking, but with the acrid smoke of attacks and fighting, residents told dpa.
A large part of the population is living in emergency shelters and tents, with much of the coastal territory in ruins after a year and a half of war.
To preserve some of the usual traditions, eyewitnesses said parents gave their children oranges as a treat.
The Gaza war, which has seen the deaths of some 50,000 people in Isreali strikes according to figures from Gazan health officials, began with Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which militants killed 1,200 people and kidnapped some 250 others.
Since then, heavy fighting has displaced most of Gaza’s 2 million residents, and many have lost multiple family members in the conflict.
Palestinians rest after performing Eid al-Fitr prayer marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
