Palestinian Children in Rafah Complain of “No Eid – Just War”
(AWP) - Palestinian children in displacement camps in the Gaza Strip are having to spend the Muslim Eid al-Fitr without its usual joy, sweets, new clothes or family visits and celebrations.
Five-year-old Omar Muhareb was forced to flee the city of Khan Yunis with his family to Rafah in the south of the strip. He bathes in a tiny room in the shelter camp where his family currently live.
Like many Palestinian children at the camp, Muhareb finds nothing to cheer about during Eid amidst the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza.
He said sorrowfully, “There is no Eid. There is war. The Jews destroyed everything and destroyed our house. We don’t know where to go.”
His older sister Dina agrees that this year’s Eid al Fitr is nothing like the ones they experienced in the past.
She said, “Today, we wanted to be happy to welcome Eid, but there is no Eid atmosphere. We play while fearing strikes and bombings. We are displaced from our home and we do not know what happened to it.”
“I hope to return to my life and celebrate Eid with my friends and family,” she added.
Dina reminisced about the joy of past Eid festivities, which were completely absent amid the war that broke out on October 7.
“There is a big difference. Last Eid, there was joy and visits to exchange greetings, but now there is nothing,” she stressed.
“This is not an Eid day, but an ordinary day like any other. There are no celebrations, no gifts, no sweets or cakes. Even the Eid takbeer [recitations] in the mosque were without loudspeakers that would have created an atmosphere in the area.”
“But there are no longer mosques. [Eid] Prayers were in tents, and life is in tents. There is nothing left,” Dina concluded.