Children on their way to prayer at the Nour mosque in the Abu Amin district of Gaza City during the Adha holiday on June 6, 2025. (Credit: Bashar Taleb/AFP)
Noor al-Yacoubi is a 26-year-old translator and writer. She hasn't left the Gaza Strip since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023, and has been sharing reflections on her life with L'Orient Today during the war.I could hardly call it Eid.In the years before the war, Eid in Gaza was full of life — new clothes, bright smiles, pure joy filling the air. Tables overflowed with every kind and shape of chocolate and date maamoul (traditional cookie). Homes bustled with the warmth of family gatherings — hugs, kisses, shared meals, countless photos taken to capture the happiness.But this year, none of that remains.Children walk the streets in torn clothes, wearing the same pieces again and again. Many have been displaced. Many have lost their homes. Faces are pale, drained by grief — grief for loved ones lost, for homes reduced to rubble. Bodies are...
Noor al-Yacoubi is a 26-year-old translator and writer. She hasn't left the Gaza Strip since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023, and has been sharing reflections on her life with L'Orient Today during the war.I could hardly call it Eid.In the years before the war, Eid in Gaza was full of life — new clothes, bright smiles, pure joy filling the air. Tables overflowed with every kind and shape of chocolate and date maamoul (traditional cookie). Homes bustled with the warmth of family gatherings — hugs, kisses, shared meals, countless photos taken to capture the happiness.But this year, none of that remains.Children walk the streets in torn clothes, wearing the same pieces again and again. Many have been displaced. Many have lost their homes. Faces are pale, drained by grief — grief for loved ones lost, for homes reduced to rubble. Bodies...