'It doesn't feel like Eid' Homeless and scared, Palestinians find little to celebrate

As cold, driving rain swept across the rubbish- and rubble-strewn streets of Rafah early yesterday morning, residents of the crowded city in the south of Gaza set out to celebrate the end of the holy month of Ramadan and the festival of Eid al-Fitr.

- Jason Burke, Malak A Tantesh

Prayers were held in mosques badly damaged in the Israeli offensive, in the crowded schools where many have lived since being forced to flee ruined homes elsewhere in the territory, and on the sand among the rows of tents now home to hundreds of thousands.

By noon, the clouds had cleared but the spring sunshine brought little of the warmth usually associated with a day of faith, friendship and family.

"It doesn't feel like Eid because of the lack of a beautiful atmosphere, and we are not buying clothes and sweets, or gathering together like we usually do," said Jana Muhammad Sorour, a 12-year-old dispatched by her displaced family to sell homemade goods to neighbours to raise funds.

"I hope that the war will stop and that I will get clothes and sweets like other holidays, and most importantly, go home."

For Islam Wahba, 35, who fled to Rafah after her home in Nuseirat was destroyed in an airstrike, the festival brought new grief. Since the war started six months ago, her husband and six other relatives have been killed. "When the prayers began, I started crying. It was my first Eid without my husband and many of my family. When my children woke up, they looked at pictures of their father and wish him happy Eid. This is not Eid and cannot be Eid," she said.

The war began on 7 October when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 250 hostages. Since then, Israel's military offensive has killed more than 33,000 in Gaza, mostly civilians, and created a humanitarian crisis.