‘This Ramadan, the Palestinian people are missing dozens of voices that once revived its nights and filled its mosques with reverence and faith,’ Ismail Al-Thawabteh told Anadolu
The Muslim month of Ramadan has arrived in the Gaza Strip without hundreds of imams, preachers and Quran teachers who were killed during the Israeli war, leaving hundreds of mosques in ruins and altering traditions Palestinians long associated with the fasting month.
Palestinians say they miss the imams who once led prayers, delivered Friday sermons and offered religious lessons that shaped both spiritual and social life in the enclave.
Residents now pray in wooden and plastic tents erected atop or beside the rubble of destroyed mosques, or inside partially damaged buildings with cracked walls.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, Israel killed 312 preachers, imams, religious instructors and Quran teachers during Israel’s two-year war and destroyed 1 050 out of 1 275 mosques completely and 191 partially.
The war in Gaza has killed more than 72 000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, wounded over 171 000, and damaged about 90% of civilian infrastructure, Palestinian figures showed.
Despite the truce, Israeli forces have committed hundreds of violations through shelling and gunfire, killing 615 Palestinians and injuring 1 651 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Ismail Al-Thawabteh, director general of Gaza’s Government Media Office, said Israel targetted “religious and social symbols who played a pivotal role in preaching, guidance, strengthening social peace and reinforcing spiritual values”.
“This Ramadan, the Palestinian people are missing dozens of voices that once revived its nights and filled its mosques with reverence and faith,” he told Anadolu.
Thawabteh said 20 members of Gaza’s Christian community were also killed after Israel targetted Christian houses of worship in the territory.
He estimated direct preliminary losses to the religious sector at about $1 billion and said cemeteries were also “bulldozed and targeted”.
“Despite the heavy losses, Palestinians continue to perform prayers and observe rituals in the remaining mosques or in shelters and tents, affirming their adherence to their right to worship and practice their religious rites guaranteed under international humanitarian law,” he said.
Targetting clergy and houses of worship constitutes “a blatant violation of international law and a direct assault on the special protections afforded to religious sites,” Thawabteh said.
Israel’s targeting of religious and symbolic infrastructure “will not succeed in breaking the will of the people or erasing their civilizational and religious identity,” he said.