[Today’s Prayer] “Sorrow of Eid”… Gaza Strip’s Most Mournful Festival

The Eid al-Fitr holiday, the biggest Muslim holiday (the end of Ramadan), began on the 30th (local time), but the situation of the residents of the Gaza Strip in Palestine is just miserable.

The ceasefire's relief is short-lived, and with little to celebrate amid the seemingly endless war, most of the Gaza Strip's 2 million Palestinians are simply trying to survive, the Associated Press reports.

Gaza residents held outdoor prayers outside many war-torn mosques on the first day of the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

"It is a sad Eid," said Adel al-Shaer, attending a prayer service in the central Gaza Strip town of Deir al-Balah. "We have lost our loved ones, our children, our lives, our future, we have lost our students, our schools, our institutions. We have lost everything."

He wept as he recalled how 20 of his relatives, including four young nephews, were killed in an Israeli airstrike a few days ago.

"We pray for the happiness of the children, but the joy of Eid? There is no such thing," said Saeed al-Kurd, another prayer meeting participant. "There is only killing, displacement and hunger."

Israel has been blocking the entry of relief supplies, including food and fuel, into the Gaza Strip for four weeks since the first phase of a 42-day ceasefire agreed upon with the Palestinian militant group Hamas at the beginning of the year ended on the 1st.

The Israeli military launched a large-scale airstrike on the Gaza Strip on the 18th and resumed full-scale military operations the following day by deploying ground troops. Arab mediators are working to normalize the ceasefire, and Hamas announced the previous day that it had accepted a new proposal from Egypt and Qatar.

However, local media outlet Wala reported that an agreement is likely to be reached only after Eid al-Fitr, as Israel stated that it had reiterated its position on the ceasefire proposal received from mediators after coordination with the United States.

Source: News

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. (Colossians 1: 13-15)

As people in the Palestinian territory of Gaza celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that marks the end of the Ramadan fast, we hear reports of open-air prayers outside a destroyed mosque.

Rather than celebrating the holiday, Gazans told us that the war has left them with nothing but the pain of a lost future.

We pray that the gospel of the truth of the cross will find its way to the people of Gaza, who continue to observe Ramadan and cling to Islam despite the constant war.

We proclaim that it is the Lord God who will deliver them from the power of darkness like war!

May the Lord wash away the pain and tears of the people of Gaza, and may the Holy Spirit overflow on the people of Gaza who are starving because of the ban on aid!

Comfort the bereaved families of Gaza who are trembling in fear, and may the war cease and the love of the cross be restored in the midst of Gaza!

May the Lord, the Prince of Peace, bring the people of Gaza into the joy-filled kingdom of Jesus Christ!

May the people of Gaza turn away from Islam and trust in the cross for the forgiveness of sins!

May the people of Gaza see the image of Jehovah God, who is first in all creation, and may they stand firm on the ground by faith in what is not seen, and be born again as Your children!

We believe that peace will come between Israel and Palestine when the Arab churches see the situation in Gaza and pray together!

Grant that Palestine will rise up as the last disciple to take up the salvation of the Arab peoples!

Rise up a Palestinian church that will be at the forefront of the gospel, sending out missionaries until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in!

Rise, Palestinian nation, praising Yeshua and fulfilling the times of the Gentiles!