GAZA CITY: As Gazans woke up to the sound of Israeli shelling that killed at least 20 Palestinians, the annual Eidul Fitr celebrations that mark the end of Ramadan were missing for the second year in a row.
According to 28-year-old mother Nahla Abu Matar, “Eid, which was once a day of family reunions and visits, has now become a day of farewells and funerals.”
She now lives in the southern part of Khan Yunis after being forced to leave her home in northern Gaza, like hundreds of thousands of other Gazans.
“The places where we used to congregate are now littered with bodies and ruins, and the mosques where we once prayed have been reduced to heaps of rubble,” she said.
Out of eight youngsters, five were killed.
Rescue workers in Gaza informed AFP that an Israeli airstrike in Khan Yunis on Sunday before dawn killed eight people, including five youngsters.
Abu Matar remarked, “We woke up to the roar of air strikes and explosions instead of the sound of takbirs (Eid prayers).”
Many Gazans gathered in various locations throughout the territory at dawn to perform the customary morning prayers for Eid.
While some worshiped inside mosques, such as the once-majestic Omari Mosque, whose walls have now crumbled from the bombardments, others spread out their prayer mats on the streets amidst the debris.
Tens of thousands of displaced Gazans were living in appalling humanitarian conditions under improvised tents, and many of them prayed next to them.
Several locals visited the graves of loved ones who perished in the conflict in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
The buzz of military drones and the sounds of artillery fire filled the air as they prayed.
According to health officials quoted by Al Jazeera, Israeli military strikes in Gaza have killed 20 people since Sunday morning, including five children. “Verified footage shows three young girls killed in an air raid on al-Mawasi bloodied and seemingly wearing new clothes on the occasion of Eidul Fitr,” the article continued.
For how long?
Ezzedine Mousa, a Gaza City resident, spoke of the profound anxiety that pervaded the area.
“People are scared to come see each other because they could be killed by a rocket at any time,” he claimed.
“We try our best to keep our children happy with what little we have, but their fear is reflected in their eyes.”
A tenuous weeks-long truce was shattered on March 18 when Israel started its offensive onslaught in Gaza.
The health ministry of the Hamas-controlled area reports that since then, over 900 people have died throughout Gaza. Israel has been waging a fierce military operation in Gaza since October 2023, killing at least 50,277 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
Members of the Red Crescent were killed
Three of the ambulance service’s medics and one civil defense responder “remain missing,” according to the ambulance service, while witnesses and medical professionals reported that Israeli airstrikes continued throughout the day in Khan Yunis and other parts of Gaza. The Palestine Red Crescent Society confirmed on Sunday that 11 additional bodies had been discovered in Rafah city, Gaza, including six identified as its members and four as civil defense agency personnel, according to Al Jazeera.
“The world celebrates Eid while our sons and daughters lie in morgues. How much longer will this tragedy continue?” asked Mohamed al-Qadi, who lost his sister and nephew in Sunday’s pre-dawn Israeli raid on Khan Yunis. Two children were injured in an airstrike in Rafah, according to medical professionals.
Eid of sorrow
In Gaza’s center town of Deir el-Balah, Adel al-Shaer declared, “It’s the Eid of sadness,” according to Al Jazeera.
Al-Shaer claimed that since the start of the Israeli attack on Gaza, he had lost 20 members of his extended family to Israeli strikes, including four young nephews who died only days ago.
“We lost our lives, our futures, our children, and our loved ones.” We lost our schools, our institutions, and our students. We lost everything,” he continued, sobbing.
