Last week at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Shaima’ Qazeat and Mahmud Akhiziq, a newlywed Palestinian couple, tied the knot encircled by barbed wire. In the midst of the continuous Israeli atrocities in Palestine, the newlyweds are enjoying their reunion.
Social media users have been sharing the couple’s wedding photos, which show their loved ones celebrating their nuptials. Majdi Fathi, a photojournalist from Palestine, initially posted the images on Instagram.
The story of another Palestinian couple getting married in Rafah grabbed headlines last month. After the Gaza War broke out, Mohammed al-Ghandour, a Palestinian, had to evacuate his home and marry his wife in a makeshift tent city in January. He had dreamed of giving his fiancée a magnificent wedding.
A few relatives clapped in time as Ghandour took his bride Shahad by the hand towards the tent that was adorned with colored lights and a mirror with a gold frame. Ghandour placed a ring on Shahad’s hand as she raised it inside the tent, dressed in a white dress and veil embroidered with customary crimson thread.
“A party was what I wanted. I desired a wedding and a party. Like everybody else, I wanted to extend an invitation to my friends, family, and cousins,” Ghandour remarked.
The pair is from Gaza City, which is located in the tiny enclave’s northern section and has seen some of the most heavy artillery bombardment and combat between Israel and Hamas since the war’s start on October 7. They reported that Israeli aircraft destroyed the homes of both Ghandour’s and Shahad’s families, and they also lost relatives and other family members in the bombardment.
“I might be only 3% happy, but I’ll get ready for my wife. “I wish to bring her joy,” Ghandour uttered. Rather than the grand celebration that Ghandour had envisioned, he and Shahad had a tiny circle of relatives who, like them, had escaped from Gaza City to Rafah, which is located at the farthest southern tip of the strip close to Egypt.
A small group of ladies led by Shahad’s mother erupted in celebration of the marriage, and someone managed to save up batteries for a compact portable music player. The couple had only a few plastic-packaged foods meticulously put out for them in the tent, for a wedding feast in an enclave the UN warns is hurtling towards famine.
Before the war started, both families had already invested a large sum of money in the wedding. They claimed Shahad had spent over $2,000 on clothing. Shahad’s mother, Umm Yahia Khalifa, stated, “My dream was to give Shahad the best wedding, the most beautiful in the world.” “She was delighted with the wedding preparations we had made. But the bombardment has destroyed it all. She started crying every time she remembered,” she remarked.
People nearby went about their daily tasks, searching amid the rows of tents stretched across the sand for food or hanging clothes, while the little wedding party started to cheer and dance. When the applause started, a tiny girl wearing a pink and white dress grinned widely and joined a group of kids dancing as the sun sank below the tall border barrier topped with barbed wire.
I am a dedicated student currently in my seventh semester, pursuing a degree in International Relations. Alongside my academic pursuits, I am actively engaged in the professional field as a content writer at the Rangeinn website.