Mohammad sits on the back of a donkey-drawn cart, trundling down what is left of a road, alongside the few belongings he managed to retrieve from his flattened home. Wednesday should have marked the celebration of Eid al-Fitr; instead, it is another reminder of what millions in Gaza have lost. <\/p>\n
Mohammad has just returned to Khan Younis, the central Gaza city that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) bombarded for months until their withdrawal Sunday. <\/p>\n
Nearby, another man has just picked through the belongings in his own destroyed house. He grabbed his daughter\u2019s Eid clothes as he went, even though she won\u2019t be able to wear them. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are alive for Eid, thank God,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were alive for Ramadan, but it was a time of exhaustion and devastation.\u201d <\/p>\n
Muslims gather at Eid al-Fitr to mark the end of Ramadan and show gratitude to Allah. People in Gaza, as across the Muslim world, would typically celebrate the day by meeting with their families and sharing large meals. <\/p>\n
But this year homes across the enclave lie in ruins, and all 2.2 million people in Gaza do not have enough food to eat, with half of the population on the brink of starvation, according to a UN-backed report published last month. <\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s war in Gaza has killed more than 33,400 Palestinians \u2013 the majority of whom are women and children \u2013 according to the Ministry of Health in the enclave. More than 76,000 people have been injured. <\/p>\n
\u201cEid right now is basically dead. There is no joy, no delight,\u201d said Ahlam Saleh, who was displaced from northern Gaza in the early stages of Israel\u2019s war with Hamas and has since been living in Deir al Balah, in the center of the strip. <\/p>\n
This is an Eid unlike most Gazans can remember. A true celebration is virtually impossible anywhere in the enclave, where the UN says more than 70% of homes have been damaged or destroyed since October. <\/p>\n
There was once hope that a ceasefire could be agreed before Ramadan began. Instead, Muslims fasted throughout the month-long holiday despite the ongoing terrors of war; and now Eid is also taking place under the cloud of a conflict in its seventh month. <\/p>\n
But Muslims in Gaza are marking the holiday with a mix of apprehension and defiance. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur presence here is a message to the enemy and to the world that we will celebrate Eid despite the bloodshed and devastation,\u201d said a man in Jabalya, northern Gaza, where prayers took place in the elements. \u201cWe came here to pray outside in the rain for Eid to revitalize the energy within us\u2026 and to be with the martyrs,\u201d a woman added. <\/p>\n
One tradition that is more palpable than ever is Eid\u2019s custom of commemorating the dead. Mourning women in Deir al Balah marked the holiday around freshly dug soil, where their husbands and sons, killed in the war, lay. <\/p>\n
Um Ahmad came with her children to visit her husband\u2019s grave. Nodding towards her son, she said: \u201cThis little one was banging on the stone, saying, \u2018I want to see Baba. Who is going to celebrate Eid with me like Baba used to?\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that \u201cno force in the world\u201d will stop Israeli troops from entering Rafah, where 1.5 million people are sheltering. <\/p>\n
But Mostafa Alhelou, who was displaced from Gaza City to Rafah, said he and other Muslims \u201cinsisted\u201d on praying inside Al-Farouq mosque, which was destroyed by Israeli bombardment, \u201cso the world knows that we are holding onto our mosques, to our land, to our country.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully next Eid, we will celebrate it in Gaza City and pray inside the mosques we are used to praying in,\u201d Alhelou said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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