Eid: Palestinians Offer Prayers Outside Destroyed Mosques

Early on Friday, Palestinians across the war-ravaged Gaza Strip marked the start of one of Islam’s most important holidays with prayers outside destroyed mosques and homes with little hope the war with Israel will end soon.

The traditional Eid al-Adha prayers were held outdoors by men and children because most of Gaza was in ruins, and families were compelled to eat what they could for the three-day feast because food supplies were running low.

“This is the worst feast that the Palestinian people have experienced because of the unjust war against the Palestinian people,” said Kamel Emran after attending prayers in the southern city of Khan Younis.

“There is no food, no flour, no shelter, no mosques, no homes, no mattresses … The conditions are very, very harsh.”

The Islamic festival begins on the 10th day of the Islamic lunar month of Dhul-Hijja, which falls during Saudi Arabia’s Hajj season. For the second consecutive year, Muslims in Gaza were unable to travel to Saudi Arabia to undertake the traditional pilgrimage.

On Friday, Israel issued a new warning to civilians in northern Gaza, stating that the military was going to conduct extensive operations in a region after rockets were fired against Israel from that sector.

The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing approximately 1,200 people, largely civilians, and kidnapping 251 hostages.

They are still holding 56 hostages, around a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages from Gaza and recovered dozens of bodies.

Since then, Israel has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians in its military campaign, primarily women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians or combatants in its figures.

The offensive has destroyed large parts of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of roughly two million Palestinians.

After blocking all food and aid from entering Gaza for more than two months, Israel began allowing a trickle of supplies to enter the UN several weeks ago.

But the UN says it has been unable to distribute much of the aid because of Israeli military restrictions on movements and because roads that the military designates for its trucks to use are unsafe and vulnerable to looters.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome said on Thursday that Gaza’s people are projected to fall into acute food insecurity by September, with nearly 500,000 people experiencing extreme food deprivation, leading to malnutrition and starvation.

“This means the risk of famine is touching the whole of the Gaza Strip,” Rein Paulson, director of the FAO Office of Emergencies and Resilience, said in an interview.

Happy Eid al-Adha celebration to all our Muslim friends.