Gaza residents are celebrating Eid al-Adha on Friday (June 6) amid the ongoing Israeli aggression, extreme food shortages and rubble. They prayed in the open air outside destroyed mosques and homes.
According to a report by the Associated Press (AP), men and children were forced to pray in the open as most areas of Gaza have been reduced to rubble. Everyone is struggling to procure the necessary food for this major religious festival for Muslims. Families are organizing the festival with whatever little they have been able to gather.
Eid al-Adha is celebrated on the 10th day of the Islamic lunar month of Zilhaj. For the second consecutive year, Gazan Muslims have not been able to go to Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj.
Since October 2023, more than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in the Israeli military operation, most of whom are women and children.
The Israeli operation has devastated much of Gaza. About 90 percent of the two million Palestinians in the enclave have been displaced.
After more than two months of blocking food and aid supplies, Israel has recently allowed some aid to the United Nations. But the UN says Israeli military restrictions and insecurity are preventing much of the aid from being delivered.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Thursday that Gaza could face a severe food crisis in September. Up to half a million people could be severely malnourished and undernourished.
The risk of famine in the Gaza Strip is now at risk, said Raine Paulson, director of the FAO’s emergencies department.
In the past two weeks, new aid distribution centers in Gaza have been shelled almost daily. Witnesses said Israeli forces stationed in these areas opened fire. Gaza hospital authorities say more than 80 people have been killed so far.
Source: AP, UNB
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