GAZA, (PIC)
With tears and deep sorrow, a young Palestinian girl in Gaza cries over her dresses that were burned when the Israeli occupation army bombed her home in Rafah. This scene, widely shared on social media, shows a six-year-old girl speaking with bitterness and pain, describing the plight of children in Gaza and their suffering from the ongoing genocide over the past nine months, which has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, injuries, and missing persons, most of them children and women.
Through her tears, the little girl says, “Our house was bombed… and it’s Eid, my dresses were burned… people took their dresses with them.” She cries intensely after being forced to flee from the horrific bombardment, which robbed her of the joy of Eid, leaving her with tear-filled eyes and deep sadness. She says, “And I didn’t take my dresses with me.”
This child, exhausted by the continuous months of aggression, expresses a wish shared by all the children of Gaza, “I wish the war would end, and I could go back home and wear my dresses again.”
Moments of stolen joy
Despite the Israeli crimes and ongoing aggression in Gaza, the children managed to snatch moments of joy in defiance of the occupation. They wore whatever clean clothes they had, as the aggression prevented them from buying new ones, where even food and water are scarce, let alone new clothes. They gathered on the rubble, chanting Eid takbeers, expressing their happiness with the arrival of Eid.
In a widely circulated video, a group of girls are seen wearing their beautiful traditional clothes, representing the deep-rooted Palestinian heritage, while performing Eid prayers on the ruins.
Recreational activities
In the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, a small child receiving treatment after their home was bombed by the occupation army is seen wearing Eid clothes stained with blood. His family and those around him try to alleviate his fears by giving him “Eidiya” (Eid money) and calling him a brave hero who endures pain and suffering.
In another video, Gaza’s children recall previous Eids, which were celebrated with their parents who are now martyrs due to the aggression. They used to wake up early in the morning to eat Eid cakes and offer sacrifices after going to the mosque for Eid prayers. The Israeli aggression has shattered all of that this year with its ongoing brutal assault.
Despite the pain, Gaza’s children did not abandon their Eid rituals. In their modest tent, which appeared like a grand palace, the table with Eid cakes and “black coffee” remained, symbolizing hospitality, Palestinian generosity, and immense joy with the arrival of Eid.
Meanwhile, a joyful scene shows Gaza’s children wandering among the tents of displaced people, chanting Eid takbeers, reflecting joy, happiness, and celebration of Eid, and resilience against aggression, snatching moments of joy that Israel tried to extinguish in Gaza with all its might.
Creating joy amidst pain
Adults also tried to bring happiness and joy to the children at Al-Maamadani Hospital through recreational activities, taking them away from the atmosphere of aggression, bombing, and destruction, to spaces filled with joy and interaction with the arrival of Eid.
Gaza’s children continue to express their wishes for the return of joyful days during Eid, the atmosphere of a home not destroyed by war, the mosque with its tall minarets, its courtyards filled with worshippers, and resonating with Eid takbeers. They affirm their legitimate dreams and human rights to wear Eid clothes like other children worldwide who are not killed by rockets, not starved, not terrified by explosions, and not deprived of their parents who become martyrs due to the occupation’s aggression. Their greatest hope is for the aggression to stop and for Gaza to be rebuilt.
Aggression takes the lives of Gaza’s children
In a heartbreaking scene, a grieving family in Gaza bids farewell to their martyred daughter, placing with her body the “Eid sandals,” which the brutal aggression denied her the joy of wearing, killing her instantly with a criminal bombing. She joins tens of thousands of children who have been killed by the occupation army before, under the eyes of a world watching in silence, helplessness, and complicity.
It is worth noting that “over 16,000 children have been killed by the occupation during the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip,” according to statements made by the Government Media Office in Gaza on Monday.
