Palestinians in the Gaza Strip had little to celebrate on Sunday as they began marking a normally festive Muslim holiday with rapidly dwindling food supplies and no end in sight to the Israel-Hamas war.
Israeli strikes overnight into Sunday killed at least 19 people, mostly women and children, health officials said.
Many Palestinians held prayers outside demolished mosques on the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
It is supposed to be a joyous occasion, when families gather for feasts and purchase new clothes for children — but most of Gaza’s two million Palestinians are just trying to survive.
“It’s the Eid of Sadness,” Adel al-Shaer said after attending outdoor prayers in the central town of Deir al-Balah.
“We lost our loved ones, our children, our lives, and our futures. We lost our students, our schools, and our institutions. We lost everything.”
Twenty members of his extended family have been killed in Israeli strikes, including four young nephews just a few days ago, he said as he broke into tears.
Israel ended the ceasefire with Hamas and resumed the war earlier this month when the militant group refused to accept changes to the agreement reached in January.
Israeli strikes have killed hundreds of Palestinians and Israel has allowed no food, fuel or humanitarian aid to enter for four weeks.
“There is killing, displacement, hunger and a siege,” said Saed al-Kourd, another worshipper.
“We go out to perform God’s rituals in order to make the children happy, but as for the joy of Eid? There is no Eid.”
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages.
Hamas is still holding 59 captives — 24 of whom are believed to be alive — after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other agreements.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally.
Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Israel’s bombardment and ground operations have destroyed vast areas of Gaza and at their height displaced around 90% of the population.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel
You must verify your phone number before you can comment.
Please enter your phone number below, and a verification code will be sent to you by text message.
Please enter the six-digit verification code sent to you by SMS.
Your verification code has been sent a second time to the mobile phone number you provided.
Your verification code has been sent a third time to the mobile phone number you provided.
You have requested your verification code too many times. Please try again later.
Didn’t receive a code? Send it againThe code you entered has not been recognised.
Please try again
You have failed to enter a correct code after three attempts.
Please try again later.
Your phone number has been verified.
Your phone number has been stored with your account details. We will never use it for anything other than verifying that you are the legitimate owner of this account.