CAIRO: 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, the German news agency (dpa) reported.
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.
According to figures from Gazan health officials, some 50,000 people were killed in the Israeli strikes and heavy fighting has displaced most of Gaza’s 2 million residents. Many have lost multiple family members in the conflict.
