GAZA CITY, Palestine
As dusk settled over Gaza on Tuesday, rows of worshippers stood in prayer not inside mosques, but atop their ruins.
For the first time since Israel’s two-year war on the enclave ended, Palestinians marked the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan under a fragile ceasefire, performing Tarawih prayers in courtyards strewn with debris and in makeshift prayer spaces fashioned from nylon sheets and wooden planks.
Many mosques across the enclave no longer exist.
According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, more than 1,015 mosques were destroyed or damaged during the war. At least 835 were completely leveled, while dozens of others remain partially standing as hollowed shells of what were once central gathering points for their neighborhoods.
In place of domes and minarets, plastic tarps now hang. In place of marble floors, worshippers kneel on uneven concrete and sand.
Israeli surveillance drones continued to circle overhead in parts of the enclave as prayers began, an Anadolu correspondent reported, underscoring the fragile calm that has followed months of bombardment.
Return to Gaza’s historic Al-Omari Mosque
In Gaza City’s Old Quarter, residents returned to the historic Al-Omari Mosque, one of the largest and oldest in Palestine. First established more than 14 centuries ago, the mosque sustained near-total destruction in a bombardment documented in December 2023.
Sections of the structure have since been covered with temporary materials to allow limited access for worshippers.
Despite the extensive damage, hundreds gathered there for the evening prayers.
“Even after everything, people prefer to pray here,” said Muawiya Kashko, a worshipper from the Zeitoun neighborhood. “During the war, we were dying every day. But this is still our mosque.”
Another worshipper, Abu Abdullah Khalaf, said returning to the site carried deep symbolic meaning. “We stand here despite the destruction,” he said. “We want relief. We want stability.”
Faith under canvas
Across Gaza, similar scenes unfolded. Prayer tents erected over rubble filled quickly. Some were illuminated briefly by small generators operating for limited hours. Others relied on faint light filtering through torn fabric.
Sheikh Rami Al-Jarousha, imam of the heavily damaged Al-Amin Mohammed Mosque in western Gaza City, said Ramadan feels markedly different this year.
“This Ramadan carries a different tone,” he said. “People are exhausted, from war, from loss, from displacement.”
Yet the determination to maintain prayer remains firm.
“We will pray anywhere,” he added. “Even if it is over the ruins.”
For 65-year-old Ramiz Al-Mashharawi, the month arrives with profound absence. He lost his two sons and a grandson months ago, companions who once stood beside him in prayer during Ramadan nights.
“This year, I feel alone,” he said quietly. Still, he attends nightly prayers at a temporary site built over the remains of Al-Kanz Mosque in the Rimal district.
A muted beginning
When the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem announced that Wednesday would mark the first day of Ramadan, many in Gaza described the moment as one of diminished joy.
The previous two Ramadans unfolded under bombardment and acute hunger, with families often unable to prepare even basic meals for iftar – the traditional fast-breaking meal – or suhoor – the pre-dawn meal before the daylight fast begins during the holy month.
Now, while large-scale fighting has subsided, displacement remains widespread and reconstruction uncertain. Electricity is still largely cut off, and thousands of families continue to live in tents pitched amid rubble.
Still, as worshippers lined up between broken walls and temporary tarps, the act of prayer itself carried quiet defiance.
For many in Gaza, this Ramadan does not mark a return to normalcy. While large-scale fighting has subsided, displacement, destruction, and uncertainty persist, leaving residents to navigate the holy month amid profound loss and fragile hope.
A US-backed ceasefire agreement has been in place in Gaza since Oct. 10, 2025, halting Israel’s two-year war that has killed more than 72,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 171,000 others since October 2023.
Since the agreement took effect on Oct. 10, Israeli forces have committed hundreds of violations through shelling and gunfire, killing 603 Palestinians and injuring 1,618 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
* Writing by Tarek Chouiref in Istanbul.
