GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Citizens in the Gaza Strip performed the first Friday prayer of the month of Ramadan amid the rubble of mosques and destroyed buildings, under harsh living conditions and an acute shortage of food supplies, while the Israeli occupation forces continue bombardment and the demolition of buildings in various areas.
Worshippers gathered around destroyed mosques and held prayers on their ruins, listening to the Friday sermon which focused on patience and solidarity.
According to Al Jazeera, the Al-Kanz Mosque in Gaza City has become a symbol of steadfastness, as worshippers from several neighborhoods gathered there to perform the prayer, a scene that reflects the population’s adherence to their religious practices despite destruction and siege.
Prayers also extended to damaged historic mosques, including the Al-Omari Mosque, in addition to temporary prayer areas set up using tents and tarpaulins as substitutes for demolished mosques.
This large turnout for prayers and for Taraweeh prayers during Ramadan, according to observers, reflects a collective determination to preserve religious and spiritual identity, at a time when Israel restricts the entry of construction materials and large tents, complicating efforts to restore places of worship.
Field testimonies confirm that the people of Gaza have become accustomed, after each round of escalation, to rehabilitating some destroyed mosques using rudimentary means in order to continue holding prayers, a tradition that reflects the continuity of religious life despite restrictions.
The Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs in Gaza announced that Israeli occupation forces destroyed 1,109 mosques out of 1,244 in the enclave, either totally or partially, during the latest war.
A ceasefire agreement ended a war that lasted two years and resulted, according to official Palestinian data, in the killing of 72,069 Palestinians and the injury of 171,728 others, in addition to the destruction of about 90% of civilian infrastructure, while the United Nations estimated the cost of reconstruction at about 70 billion dollars, in one of the most extensive waves of destruction the enclave has ever witnessed.
