After eight months of devastating war, Muslims in the Gaza Strip will on Sunday celebrate a solemn Eid al-Adha, a major religious holiday usually celebrated by sharing meat with friends, family and the needy.
Adha means sacrifice, and the ritual slaughter of a sheep, goat or cow on this day symbolizes the Prophet Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son. But this year, almost everyone in Gaza is in poverty. The Palestinian territory has been hit by famine since Israel launched an eight-month military offensive into the Gaza Strip and imposed severe restrictions on entry, including humanitarian aid.
Many people are not in the mood to celebrate.
“There is no Eid, no Eid atmosphere,” said Zaina Kamni, who lived with her family in a tent in a vast sandy area called Al Mawashi in southern Gaza. “We haven’t eaten any meat for five months.”
“It will be a day like any other, just like Eid al-Fitr,” she added, another major Muslim holiday that Gazans celebrated under similar circumstances more than two months ago.
Gazans have endured intense, regular bombardment and destitution since the war began on Oct. 7 after a Hamas-led Israeli attack left an estimated 1,200 people dead. More than 37,000 people have died and hunger is widespread, according to Gaza health officials.
“The people of Gaza remain facing severe hunger as access to humanitarian assistance remains restricted,” the U.N. relief agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said. Post to social media It added that more than 50,000 children were in need of treatment for acute malnutrition on Saturday.
The Israeli army said Sunday it would suspend daily military operations near the southern Gaza border crossing to allow more aid to flow into the Strip, but it was not immediately clear whether more supplies would come in. The United Nations World Food Program warned this week that southern Gaza could soon experience devastating levels of hunger similar to those previously experienced by residents in the northern Gaza Strip.
Reports of negotiations and a proposed ceasefire between Israel and Hamas keep many Gaza residents hopeful, but the passing of holidays, including Christmas and Easter for Gaza’s small Christian population, is a reminder of just how entrenched the war has become.
Adnan Abdul Aziz, 53, of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, used to be able to buy a lamb and slaughter it on Eid. On that morning, he and his family would eat lamb liver for breakfast and prepare a traditional Palestinian meal with the meat for lunch. They would give the leftovers to family, friends and those in need.
Now, with electricity shortages and rising prices in the market, Abdul Aziz has to buy food every day, relying on what is available and what he can afford. But he says treats are not the only thing he will lose this year.
“We visit and get together with our families, give money to the children, buy new clothes for everyone, make sweets, say Eid prayers,” he said. “None of that is possible this year. Everyone is grieving, everyone has lost someone or something.”
Aya Ali Adwan, 26, was engaged before the war began, but her wedding, planned for February, was postponed and then disrupted again by the conflict.
Originally from northern Gaza, she and her family have been forced to flee eight times during the war and are now taking shelter in a cramped tent in Deir al-Balah, where temperatures approach 95 degrees Fahrenheit and it is unbearably hot inside.
“My spirit is shattered,” she said. “Like any other Palestinian family before Eid, we should be busy preparing for Eid – baking cookies, cleaning the house, buying clothes and doing other normal tasks – but this year there is nothing.”
She said many relatives who had visited their homes during Eid were killed in the war.
“All we need now is to feel safe, despite the lack of everything,” she said. “All we need is for the war to stop and for us to go back home.”
Amera Halda and Bilal Shubayr Contributed report.
