Eid al-Adha was celebrated in Gaza earlier today, June 16, 2024, amid an ongoing war that has lasted for nine months. Videos documented Palestinians performing the Eid prayer amidst the rubble of mosques and homes surrounding them from all sides, deprived of the ability to perform religious rituals freely.
Eid al-Adha comes to Gaza as the Israeli onslaught continues, attacking all aspects of life, closing crossings, and spreading famine, especially in the northern parts of the strip.
Among the ruins of the Omari Mosque and the rubble of homes, the preacher of the Eid prayer in Jabalia refugee camp stated that Eid has returned to Gaza while it clings to its faith, paying the highest prices to reclaim land and defend the sanctities of the nation.
He said, “We will crush the arrogant enemy that stands between us and our religious rituals,” adding, “The costs we have paid and will pay are high, but they pale in comparison, as they are for the sake of our sacred places.”
He also emphasized that the Israeli occupation is trying to break the spirit of the people of Gaza, but it will not succeed in doing so.
Israeli Occupation Launches Raids on Gaza on the First Day of Eid al-Adha
On the ground, Israeli occupation aircraft launched raids targeting areas in Gaza City and Rafah in the southern part of the strip.
Several citizens were injured in a bombing that targeted a house in the Tel al-Sultan area in Rafah, which is witnessing ongoing ground aggression.
The occupation aircraft also launched a violent raid on a house west of the Martyrs of the Beach Square in the Beach refugee camp west of Gaza.
In the central part of the strip, occupation forces demolished several residential buildings in the town of Al-Mughraqa, north of the Nuseirat refugee camp.
Hamas: Eid Comes While Our People Are Facing the Most Brutal War in Modern History
In a statement, the Hamas movement said that Eid al-Adha this year comes while the Palestinian people are facing the most brutal and aggressive war in modern history, where “our great people stand united with their valiant resistance in the ongoing Al-Aqsa Flood battle.”
They added: “With the pains of displacement, hunger, and thirst, and the cries of loss and the depth of wounds, we stand with unwavering resolve, unbreakable will, steadfastness, and firm faith in victory. We share the pain and hopes of our great people in the Gaza Strip, especially, and throughout the West Bank, Jerusalem, the occupied interior, and the diaspora, asking Allah to bring us these blessed days again, with victory and the liberation of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa.”
They continued: “Every year, our great Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and inside and outside the homeland, with pride and dignity, until the liberation of the land and sacred places, and our Arab and Islamic nation in security, stability, solidarity, and unity behind their common causes, foremost among them the Palestinian cause.”
The movement called on the nation, on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, “to support the resilience of the Palestinian people and their defense of their sacred places and to intensify efforts to provide relief in the face of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and starvation.”
The Occupation Deprives Citizens of Celebrating Eid al-Adha
In a related context, the Government Media Office in Gaza considered that the Israeli occupation’s prevention of the entry of sacrificial animals deprives hundreds of thousands of families in the strip of the opportunity to celebrate Eid al-Adha and perform the sacrificial rituals as part of Islamic religious practices.
The statement emphasized that “the occupation’s prevention of the entry of sacrificial animals into the Gaza Strip reveals the horrific criminal face of the occupation and the American administration’s support for genocide and the deprivation of our Palestinian people from celebrating Eid al-Adha.”
The office added: “The occupation commits a new crime added to its black record by preventing the entry of sacrificial animals to Gaza by closing all crossings of the Gaza Strip, including its occupation and closure of the Rafah border crossing, and the closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing.”
This was considered a “clear violation of human rights and a complete disregard for humanitarian and Islamic values.”
The Government Media Office stated: “Sacrificial animals are an integral part of the rituals, worship, and acts of devotion that Muslims celebrate with the advent of Eid al-Adha.”
They added: “The crime of preventing their entry into the Gaza Strip represents a blatant disregard for basic Islamic and human values and human rights.”
The statement stressed that “the ethical and legal responsibility requires the international community to intervene seriously to stop the genocide and to halt this flagrant violation of the rights of Muslims and human rights.”
Furthermore, the Government Media Office held Israel and the American administration “fully responsible for the continued crimes against the Islamic religion and the Palestinian people, whether it is genocide or the prevention of the entry of sacrificial animals and depriving Muslims of celebrating Eid al-Adha.”
The office called on the international community, the United Nations, and international organizations to “pressure the occupation and the American administration to stop the genocide, open the crossings, cancel this inhumane decision, and intensify efforts to break the siege on the Gaza Strip and provide urgent assistance to them.”
