Published On 5/27/2026
For the third year in a row, and in light of a brutal war and humanitarian repercussions that have become described as the harshest in modern history, thousands of Palestinians spread out on the ground in “Al-Saraya” Square in the center of Gaza City to perform Eid Al-Adha prayers.
As stated in a report prepared by Nour Khaled for Al Jazeera, the usual joy was absent, the new Eid clothes disappeared, and were replaced by tired faces and bodies exhausted by displacement and hunger, but hope remained present in the eyes of the children who searched for stolen joy within the square.
In a city burdened by long months of war, performing Eid prayers in Gaza seemed to be an attempt to preserve what remained of the details of life.
A woman who was among the worshipers in Saraya Square confirms that Eid remains a great joy for adults and children, despite everything that the Gazans have lived through for more than three years.
For her part, a child who came with her family to the square says that the atmosphere of Eid prayers before the war was wonderful, but then the war changed everything.
Prayer and funeral
No sooner had the atmosphere of prayer and the exchange of brief congratulations ended, than the scene in Gaza moved to the farewell squares, where the funeral ceremonies for martyrs who fell in an Israeli bombing that targeted the Al-Rimal neighborhood, west of the city, began on Tuesday evening.
In the moments of farewell, feelings of sadness and pain rose among the families, and one of the participants in the funeral asked angrily, “Who is this Eid for?”
The mourners carried the bodies of the martyrs who died in the recent bombing, so that the people moved directly from the Eid sermon to the funeral prayer.
Instead of families knocking on their relatives’ doors to greet them, delegations went to the cemeteries to bury their loved ones, in a painful paradox that embodies the reality of the Gaza Strip. Where feast and death walk side by side in every alley.
It is noteworthy that the Israeli raid on a residential building in the Al-Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City resulted in the martyrdom of the leader of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Muhammad Odeh, his wife, and two of his sons.
The Israeli war on Gaza resulted in the death of more than 72,000 Palestinians and the injury of 172,000 others. The percentage of destruction in the Strip reached nearly 90%, and Israeli attacks continue at a high rate, leaving more martyrs despite the ceasefire that entered into force since last October.
