Surrounded by the rubble of a deadly war with Israel, Gazans marked a sombre Eidul-Azha festival Saturday with prayers and visits to the graves of relatives. Thabet al-Hamami pitched a tent by the ruins of his home - one of 60,000 totally or partially destroyed by Israeli strikes during the recent conflict - and offered sweets to relatives and friends.
"We will celebrate the feast, no matter what," his son Naeem said. The seven-week war that ended with a truce on August 26 killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 73 on the Israeli side, most of whom were soldiers. It caused huge destruction to homes and infrastructure, leaving more than 100,000 Palestinians homeless in the long term, according to the United Nations.
In the eastern Gaza district of Shejaiya, where entire apartment blocks were flattened in some of the heaviest bombardments of the conflict, children gathered around a butcher slaughtering a sheep for Eid. But only two sheep and a cow were available, donated by a charity. The meat will be distributed to the poorest residents of the coastal enclave. Flanking Israel and Egypt, the Gaza Strip is home to 1.7 million Palestinians who live in just 362 square kilometres (140 square miles), making it one of the most densely-populated territories on the planet.