Israel's ban on entry of sacrificial animals deprives Gazans of Eid al-Adha rituals

By Mohammed Majed

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Israel's ban on the entry of sacrificial animals deprives hundreds of thousands of families in the Gaza Strip of the opportunity to observe Eid al-Adha and perform the sacrificial rituals as part of Islamic religious practices, the Gaza media office said Saturday.

In a statement on the eve of Eid al-Adha, the office said "the occupation forces committed a new crime" by preventing the entry of sacrificial animals by closing all crossings of the Gaza Strip, including the occupation and closure of the Rafah border crossing, and the Kerem Shalom crossing.

It called this ban "a clear violation of human rights and a total disregard for human and Islamic values."

Sacrificial animals are an integral part of Eid al-Adha, the office continued, stressing: “The moral and legal responsibility requires the international community to seriously intervene to stop the genocide and halt this blatant violation of Muslims' rights and human rights.”

The media office held Israel and the US administration “fully responsible for the continuation of these crimes against Islam and against our Palestinian people.”

Nearly 37,300 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli forces since October last year, most of them women and children, and almost 85,200 others injured, according to local health authorities.

More than eight months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala in Istanbul