Across the war-torn Gaza Strip, Palestinians gathered early Friday to mark the start of Eid al-Adha, one of Islam’s most sacred holidays, praying amid the ruins of shattered mosques and homes – a stark reminder that hopes for an end to the conflict with Israel remain distant.
With vast swaths of Gaza reduced to rubble, men and children were forced to perform the traditional Eid prayers outdoors, under an open sky.
Food supplies are dangerously low, leaving families to piece together whatever meager provisions they can find to observe the three-day festival.
“This is the harshest Eid the Palestinian people have ever faced, a direct result of the brutal war waged against us,” said Kamel Emran after prayers in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. “No food, no flour, no shelter, no mosques, no homes, no mattresses... The suffering is unimaginable.”
Eid al-Adha begins on the 10th day of Dhul-Hijja, the final month of the Islamic lunar calendar, coinciding with the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
For the second consecutive year, Palestinians in Gaza have been unable to make the journey to Mecca to fulfill this deeply spiritual tradition.
In the southern city of Rafah, seven people were shot and killed on their way to collect humanitarian aid from a distribution point, according to officials at Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis, where the bodies were brought.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the hospital’s claim but said it was looking into the report.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a newly formed group of mainly American contractors that Israel wants to use to replace humanitarian groups in Gaza that distribute aid in coordination with the U.N., said that reports of violence in Rafah were inaccurate and that aid distribution was completed “peacefully and without incident.”
The latest conflict broke out following Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, incursion on southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and abducting 251 hostages.
They are still holding 56 hostages, after most of the rest were released in cease-fire agreements or other deals.
Since then, Israel has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians in its military campaign, primarily women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The offensive has destroyed large parts of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of roughly 2 million Palestinians.
After blocking all food and aid from entering Gaza for more than two months, Israel began allowing a trickle of supplies to enter for the U.N. several weeks ago.
But the U.N. says it has been unable to distribute much of the aid because of Israeli military restrictions on movement and because roads designated for U.N. trucks are unsafe and vulnerable to looters.
The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome said Thursday that Gaza’s people are projected to fall into acute food insecurity by September, with nearly 500,000 people experiencing extreme food deprivation, leading to malnutrition and starvation.
“This means the risk of famine is really touching the whole of the Gaza Strip,” Rein Paulson, director of the FAO office of emergencies and resilience, said in an interview.
Over the past two weeks, shootings have erupted nearly daily in the Gaza Strip near new hubs where desperate Palestinians are being directed to collect food.
Witnesses say nearby Israeli troops have opened fire, and more than 80 people have been killed, according to Gaza hospital officials.
Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid and trying to block it from reaching Palestinians and has said soldiers fired warning shots or at individuals approaching its troops in some cases.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sent a message on its Facebook page early Friday that it had closed all aid distribution sites until further notice and urged people to stay away for their own safety.
It later clarified the measure was only a temporary pause due to excessive crowding and that the agency had distributed all aid available Friday.
Israel’s military said distribution sites would operate from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily going forward and that outside those hours, the areas would be considered closed military zones that are strictly off-limits.
