Gazans recount how they are dealing with death and destruction
The first day of Eid was canceled for Gazans as people try to cope with having lost family, homes and their livelihoods to the wave of attacks between Gaza and Israel.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — On the first day of Eid on May 13, when people were supposed to be flocking to prayers in the early morning, the sounds of praise for God ("Takbir") clashed with the sounds of airstrikes launched from Israeli aircraft, which have not left Gazan skies since May 10.
At dawn May 13, Abu Mohammed al-Madhoun, 60, could no longer contain himself and broke out in tears, crying, “Ya Allah, Ya Allah!” (Oh God, Oh God!) as he searched for the bodies of relatives and neighbors under the rubble of buildings leveled by Israeli military strikes on the Sheikh Zayed residential neighborhood in the north of the Gaza Strip.
Neighbors pulled out the first two bodies — Abdul Rahim Mohammed Madhoun, 63, and his wife, Haijar Abu Sharkh al-Madhoun, 60, from under the rubble.
When Abu Mohammed al-Madhoun returned from the funeral procession and burying them in a cemetery, he went back to search for more victims. He told Al-Monitor, “I buried my cousins, and I am now searching for the other bodies under the rubble.”
