“Everything has changed now,” he said. UN Newswhich describes the grim panorama left after two years of Israeli attacks.
“We have been deprived of all these things. Today I see products in stores and I turn my back on them because I don’t have the money to buy them. I am a man who suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes, and I can’t walk. We must help those in the stores.”
Walid Al-Assi’s family lives in a tent set up next to their destroyed house in the Al-Zarqa neighborhood in central Gaza City.
‘We are living a tragedy’
In another tent for displaced people, Amal Al-Samri and her husband try to create an atmosphere, even if only symbolically, for the month of Ramadan. They have been busy tidying up the shop and preparing for the holy month, while a smile never left Mrs. Al-Samri’s tired face, and her three children wore new-looking clothes to celebrate the arrival of the month.
Amal Al-Samri and her children are sitting outside their tent, set up next to their destroyed house in the same neighborhood.
Before the war, he said, “our life was beautiful.”
He said he would visit relatives, go see his family and siblings, buy the house on the market and create a Ramadan atmosphere, complete with hanging lights and decorations.
“Today there is nothing,” he said.
“We are experiencing a tragedy. There is no electricity or water. We were displaced from our homes from one place to another, and in one place, the sea water flooded us and swept away our tents.”
High prices and shortages
Despite the circumstances, challenges, continued suffering, supply shortages and signs of destruction that left deep scars in the sector, the atmosphere of the holy month of Ramadan and its distinctive products reached the historic Zawiya market in Gaza City.
Shops and vendor stalls place lanterns of different sizes and signs advertising their products and welcoming the holy month.
Some families were able to buy flashlights for their children despite the high prices.
Prices double for Ramadan lanterns
But many pass through the market without buying anything, as they do not have enough to buy due to high prices and shortages of products, explained Luay Al-Jamasi, owner of a shop that sells Ramadan decorations.
“Many people have been deprived of Ramadan decorations because they do not have electricity,” he said. “The price of Ramadan decorations has increased significantly because more have not entered the sector in the last period.”
Holding one of the lanterns, he noted that “the price of this lantern used to be 30 shekels, but now it has reached 60 shekels. The price has doubled due to the lack of goods entering the country.”
Louay Al-Jamasi, owner of a shop in Gaza City that sells Ramadan decorations.
“We have gone through difficult times”
However, there are those who are determined to celebrate in their own way and stand in solidarity with those who celebrate the month, among them Maher Tarzi, a Christian Palestinian citizen, who was walking through the Zawiya market.
With a sweet voice, she sang one of the songs associated with the month of Ramadan, whose lyrics say: “sweet and happy nights have arrived, nights that come and nights that go, in which the manifestation is always present, and its light shines from above.”
“People want to be happy,” Tarzi said. “We’ve been through some tough times and it’s good that we’re still alive.”
Maher Tarzi visited the Gaza City market.
‘How do we survive all this?’
“People look around and wonder: how did we survive all this?” Mr. Tarzi continued. “Then they resume their lives and come to the markets. But things are not the same as before in terms of purchasing power.”
At night, some areas of Gaza City are illuminated with lanterns and lamps available to celebrate the arrival of the holy month of Ramadan, despite the harsh conditions in which many Gaza residents still live, most of whom are still displaced.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that, according to estimates, at least two-thirds of the population (1.4 million out of 2.1 million) live in around 1,000 of the sites to which they have been displaced, in overcrowded places and in tents that offer little privacy and protection.