'Eid of Sorrow': Palestinians in Gaza Mourn Amid Devastation and Hunger

The streets of Gaza, once filled with the laughter of children and the warmth of family gatherings on Eid al-Fitr, now echo with silence and sorrow. Instead of joyful feasts and new clothes, Palestinians mark this sacred day with hollow stomachs and broken hearts.

For Adel al-Shaer, this is not Eid—it is a day of mourning. He stood among the ruins of what was once his neighborhood, his voice trembling as he spoke. “It’s the Eid of sadness,” he whispered, eyes brimming with tears. “We lost our loved ones, our children, our lives, and our futures. We lost our students, our schools, and our institutions. We lost everything.” Just days ago, an Israeli airstrike took the lives of four of his young nephews. Twenty members of his extended family are gone.

Across Gaza, worshippers gathered outside the shattered remains of mosques, their prayers for peace rising from the rubble. There were no festive meals, no sweets for children—only the unrelenting grip of hunger and despair. The war, now stretching on with no end in sight, resumed earlier this month after Israel ended the ceasefire, rejecting Hamas' terms. Since then, Israeli bombardments have intensified, killing hundreds more Palestinians. No food, no fuel, no humanitarian aid has been allowed to enter Gaza 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 nightmare began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas -led militants stormed into Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Today, Hamas still holds 59 captives—24 of whom are believed to be alive. The rest have either been released or perished.

In response, Israel’s relentless offensive has turned Gaza into a graveyard. More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israel claims it has killed 20,000 militants, though it has offered no proof. The devastation has been merciless—entire neighbourhoods reduced to dust, families buried beneath their homes, a once-vibrant land now a wasteland of grief. At its height, the war has displaced nearly 90 per cent of Gaza’s population. Today, millions of people are left with nothing but hunger, sorrow, and a single, aching question—when will this nightmare end?