Palestinians in Gaza mark Laylat al-Qadr on ruins of destroyed mosques

By Ramzi Mahmoud

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have marked Laylat al-Qadr (Night of Destiny) on the ruins of destroyed mosques amid calls for a cease-fire and an end to Israel's ongoing onslaught which has entered its seventh month.

Before Friday's last call to prayer, Palestinians headed out to the streets, public squares, and near mosques destroyed by Israeli raids in various areas of the northern Gaza Strip and Gaza City.

Worshipers performed the evening and Tarawih prayers before the Laylat Al-Qadr commemoration activities began which continued until Saturday dawn.

Laylat al-Qadr is the holiest night in Islam, when the Holy Quran was first revealed. It falls on one of the odd nights in the last 10 days of Ramadan.

In Gaza City, Palestinians attended religious lessons and sermons to raise their morale after being exhausted by the long months of the Israeli war.

The square of the destroyed Al-Khalifa Mosque in Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip was the most crowded with worshipers despite the dangers posed by the war during the night hours.

The Palestinian Khaled Shaaban, who marked the night in the courtyard of the Al-Khalifa Mosque, told Anadolu: “We had to celebrate Laylat al-Qadr even in light of the war.”

“We wait for this night every year and it happens only once a year, we cannot miss it,” he said.

“We prayed to God to end this war, and we will continue to raise the call to prayer even from the ruins of mosques,” he added.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack early last October by the Palestinian group, Hamas, killed less than 1,200 people.

More than 33,000 Palestinians have since been killed and 75,750 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which last week asked it to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi