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As Eid al-Fitr approaches, Amani Abu Awda’s four children need new clothes, a festive item Muslims customarily buy to celebrate the holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. and started begging her for toys.
However, Abu Awda, a mother of four from northern Gaza, is currently living in a tent with her family in the southern city of Rafah. There, they are far from the festive atmosphere and the homes where large family gatherings were once held.
“Oh my god, the prices are so high I couldn’t buy anything,” she said on Saturday, days before most Muslims around the world celebrate Eid al-Fitr. She said: “I had to go looking for second-hand clothes. Normally I would never have bought something like that. But I couldn’t even find second-hand clothes.”
Eid al-Fitr – a three-day festival starting Wednesday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan – was once a joyous time in Gaza. But Palestinians in Gaza say there is little to celebrate, as Israel continues its military offensive and Gaza is under threat of starvation.
Abu Awda’s family managed to take some clothes with them when they fled their home in Jabaliya two months ago. However, she said Israeli soldiers forced them to throw away everything they were carrying at checkpoints as they walked the treacherous path where some Palestinians disappeared while in custody and some died in Israeli airstrikes. said.
“What kind of Eid is this?” Abu Awda added. We have lost family members and loved ones. We lost our homes and our safety. The feeling of death is always with us, the smell of death is everywhere. ”
Abu Awda said above all they want an Eid ceasefire.
Just as Ramadan, a month of day-long fasting and religious observances, has been marked by bittersweet memories of how Ramadan used to be before Israel’s war in Gaza, so too is Eid, a month of all-day fasting and religious observances. will be marked by a yearning comparison of how different this event was.
Before the war, shopping malls were crowded in the days leading up to Eid with families buying new clothes for the holiday and gifting sweets to all their relatives.
Almost all of those relatives have now been evacuated, crammed with others into small houses or scorching tents made of plastic sheets.
Many Muslims in the Middle East visit the graves of their loved ones on Eid. But with so many people killed since the war began in October, many buried in makeshift graves or still unrecovered from under the rubble, it is now time to preserve the tradition. , has become impossible for most people.
More than 33,000 people have been killed in Gaza after six months of Israeli shelling, the Gaza Ministry of Health said.
In Gaza City, some people have hung small lights and paper decorations on the streets. But it did little to improve the overall harsh atmosphere, said Alina Al Yaji, a 20-year-old university student.
“Instead of the wonderful smells of cookies, mamoor, sumakia and fasikh on the streets,” Al Yazzi said, naming traditional sweet and savory dishes eaten during Eid. And murder and destruction. ”
As she spoke, the sound of Israeli fighter jets roared overhead.
Sitting in a tent in Rafah, Muna Darhoub, 50, can’t help but think back to past holidays before her family was evacuated from their home in Gaza City.
She said she doesn’t make Eid cookies, mamoor or fasik because there is no cooking gas and all the ingredients, including flour and sugar, are either too expensive or in short supply.
She held out hope that she could at least find and afford the smallest gift that would bring a smile to her grandchildren: a lollipop.
For 22-year-old Mohammad Shehada, like other Palestinian men, he is expected to give financial gifts, known as idiya, on Eid.
In most Islamic cultures, adults give small eidiya to children. However, Palestinians give money to both children and adult female relatives. Even before the war, some Palestinian men in Gaza could not afford Eidiyah as a result of the 17-year land, air and sea blockade imposed on Gaza with Israeli and Egyptian support. Now, in the middle of a war, Idiya would be nearly impossible for most people.
“The cheers from the children who gather around me when I give them Adiya. I won’t be able to give them this year and it will be embarrassing,” he said.
Shehada hoped that some mosques, most of which provide shelter for displaced people, would still hold morning Eid prayers. He was hoping to be able to eat faseekh, the simplest fermented fish dish, among the Eid delights, he said.
“I have a lot of expectations for Eid,” he said. “But first and foremost, they must end this rebellious war.”
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