From the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem to other Islamic centers in Africa, Asia and Europe, Eid wishes this year were muted with tragic tones and eager calls of state leaders for an end to the bloodshed and hunger in Gaza.
The holy month of Ramadan is ending with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2728 left in the cold, while an agency of the United Nations suspects Israel could be using starvation as a weapon for limiting food aid convoys.
Organization of Islamic Cooperation Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha, in his Eid message, said at Eid Al-Fitr, the heart “is overwhelmed by Palestinians languishing under unprecedented brutal aggression of the Israeli occupation forces” who “did not give the people a space to pray or even observe the Ramadan fast in peace”, but rather “intensified their killing, destruction, and starvation”.
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman reiterated the need to stop attacking the Palestinian people and end their suffering by recognizing their legitimate rights, including the establishment of an independent state and its safety as he also called for ensuring safe relief corridors
United States President Joe Biden has said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making a “mistake” in his handling of the Gaza war, Al Jazeera reported.
“So what I’m calling for is the Israelis to just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks, a total access to all food and medicine going into the country,” Biden told Univision, a US-based, Spanish-language television network, in an interview that aired late on April 9.
In his Eid Al-Fitr speech on April 9, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman reiterated the need to stop attacking the Palestinian people and end their suffering by recognizing their legitimate rights, including the establishment of an independent state and its safety as he also called for ensuring safe relief corridors. The King’s speech was delivered by Saudi Minister of Media Salman bin Yousef Al-Dosari, the Arab News reported.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II also conveyed his well wishes on his X account, formerly Twitter, saying that as Eid Al-Fitr approached, he said “we seek God's assistance” to support and empower “our brothers and sisters in Gaza” and that Eid bring back “joy and blessings to everyone”.
King Abdullah’s message came a day after he released a joint statement with Egypt President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and France President Emmanuel Macron, stressing the need to reach an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and that violence, terror, and war cannot bring peace. Queen Rania of Jordan said on her X account she was “praying for an end to the suffering in Palestine”.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on April 9 had called for limiting the activities of Eid Al-Fitr to religious rituals only, citing the difficult circumstances as the result of the ongoing fighting in the Gaza Strip, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also published his message on his X account, highlighting the "integral role" the Muslim people have played in the story of modern Australia.
"This year, the suffering in Gaza will mean many Muslim Australians will mark Eid Al-Fitr with sorrow", adding he hoped they can "find some measure of comfort and strength" among family and friends "and the expression of your faith".
Palestinian News Agency WAFA reported that Muslim Palestinians in the Gaza Strip performed Eid al-Fitr prayers on the ruins of mosques that had been destroyed by the Israeli attacks in the shelter schools “to which they were displaced, and in public squares in the rain and cold weather”.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his Eid message this year that his heart “is broken to know” that, in Gaza, in Sudan, “and so many other places because of conflict and hunger”, so many Muslims will “not be able to celebrate Eid properly”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his Eid message this year that his heart “is broken to know” that, in Gaza, in Sudan, “and so many other places because of conflict and hunger”, so many Muslims will “not be able to celebrate Eid properly”.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Israel was deliberately delaying and block food supplies from entering Gaza in comparison with other forms of humanitarian aid, the Arab News reported.
Further, the UN OCHA said statistics from March showed that it was more difficult to get clearance for food aid delivery, particularly to the north where 70 percent of the population face famine conditions than other aid as they were three times more likely to be denied, according to OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke.
OCHA reported that distribution efforts between March 25 and April 7 faced numerous access challenges.
“In northern Gaza, food distribution by humanitarian actors reached only 16 percent of the population. In Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, food assistance reached 45 percent of the population, while in Rafah, where more than a million people are concentrated, only 30 percent of the population was reached,” the report stated.
Meanwhile, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which claims to be the US’ largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, slammed US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after he said the US does not have any evidence that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza in a Senate hearing.
“We strongly condemn Secretary Austin for his dishonest and delusional genocide denial, which completely ignores the fact that the Israeli government made racist, genocidal threats at the start of this war and then spent six months acting on those threats by destroying civilian infrastructure, sparking a famine, ethnically cleansing entire cities, and massacring more than 33,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children,” the statement published on CAIR’s website read.
“Secretary Austin and the rest of the Biden administration should be ashamed for making our nation complicit in what is obviously a genocide,” it added.
“Secretary Austin and the rest of the Biden administration should be ashamed for making our nation complicit in what is obviously a genocide,” it added.
Since Oct 7 last year, Israel has been conducting strikes in revenge against the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) after the group attacked Israeli border towns and facilities with Gaza, killing over 1,100 Israelis and taking about 200 people hostage.
The bombardment has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians in Gaza with some international organizations calling it “hell on earth”. The heavy fighting has also killed about 100 journalists and more than 200 international aid workers.
