It was supposed to be a happy Eid for the two girls — at last — after two hard years of survival and hunger that made them, like every other child in Gaza, older than their age and afraid of what tomorrow might bring.
It was supposed to be a happy Eid eve. Their mother took them to one of the remaining markets in Gaza to buy Eid outfits, to make them feel happy, to make them feel like children — but they are Palestinian kids living in Gaza, where the odds of happiness, like any other child's, are very few.
They went after the Day of Arafat Iftar to get the clothes, only to find the Israeli army bombing the market. Suddenly, everyone was scattered, everyone was searching for everyone else — and above all, for safety.
The two girls — the eldest stepped into the role of the adult, looking around in shock, while the younger one, in disbelief, shook her head and waved her arms in denial as their mother lay badly injured in the street.
In another video, the eldest cried in silence, still holding her younger sister's hand as they walked to the hospital. The younger sister looked up at the sky and wept, praying: "Oh God, not her. Oh God, not her."
The mother did not make it.
I do not know the whereabouts of their father, and I would not be surprised if he was killed or is missing — but I know those two girls lost their mother on Eid eve.
Their mother was among at least 11 people killed in Gaza by the Israeli army on Tuesday, from early morning onwards, in what is called a ceasefire — one that has now killed at least 900 Palestinians, confirmed by the latest figures, including many children.
Among those children was six-year-old Menatallah Abu Lideh.
Menna Allah had endured the bitterness of orphanhood for 14 months after her parents were killed in an earlier Israeli bombardment.
Instead of new Eid clothes, she was dressed in a shroud at her funeral on May 26th, killed by Israeli bombing the day before.
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| Late Menna Allah |
To date, there have been more than 2,300 reported Israeli airstrikes, artillery attacks, and open-fire incidents carried out across Gaza in the 228 days since Israel agreed to the so-called ceasefire.
In Lebanon — in the south and in the Bekaa — Israel launched close to 100 strikes on Tuesday alone, and I lost count of the civilian casualties.
I have always wondered how Arabs and Muslims felt when they first learned of the Crusades. I believe many could not have stopped anything, hindered by the absence of communication. But now we watch a genocide unfold day after day, an invasion happening live, in real time — and we sit as spectators.
Lebanon's Health Ministry says the number of people killed by Israeli strikes since the conflict with Hezbollah escalated in early March 2026 has surpassed 3,000.
How can we celebrate Eid while people in the same region — our neighbours, fellow Arabs, fellow Muslims — are being slaughtered? How can it be Eid?
May Allah forgive us, have mercy on us, and grant us the power and wisdom to stop this genocide.
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