In Gaza, Palestinians hold onto the Eid spirit among the ruins

The morning of the first day of Eid al-Fitr in the devastated Gaza Strip does not resemble the holidays of old.

In place of the houses, parks and bustling streets stand rows of tightly-packed tents in displacement camps that now sprawl across the territory. These camps are home to more than one million Palestinians displaced by Israeli forces during their two-year assault. It was this same reality that Palestinians in Gaza awoke to on the first day of the holiday.

Despite the hardship, Palestinians are doing all they can to hold on to the holiday spirit. Many families dressed their children in whatever new clothes they could find, while mothers cleaned and decorated their tents to create a different atmosphere.

Family visits have been replaced by gatherings in front of tents, where residents exchange greetings in scenes where joy mixes with sadness and loss.

This year’s holiday "comes without features," said Suhair Hamid, a mother of several children living in a camp in central Gaza.

"Conditions have changed and everything has been turned upside down. In the past, we used to prepare for the holiday in advance - we made cookies, bought new clothes, and visited one another. Today, we’re just trying to keep children from feeling deprived,” she told The New Arab's sister site Al Araby Al Jadeed.

"I bought my daughter a simple dress and tried to decorate the tent a little, just to bring a smile to her face."

Gaza’s children are trying to find joy as they adapt to the destruction around them. They share moments of happiness by playing on makeshift swings set up in some corners of the camps. They take turns with genuine laughter, while others play football or run down the alleys between the tents.

Forty-year-old Palestinian Ahmed Diab, a father of three who lost his home during the war, said the most painful thing for him is his inability to provide the holiday atmosphere he once could.

"My children ask me: Why is the holiday here? Why don’t we go to our home? I try to explain, but in truth I don’t have an answer," he said.

"Today I took them to buy sweets, and their joy was great despite how simple it was. That’s all I can do now."

Families are still going out with their children to buy cold drinks and sweets from the small stalls. Despite the high prices and lack of options, these moments are now more important than ever.

Twenty-year-old Palestinian Lina Al-Hajj, living in a school shelter west of Gaza City, said that children try to hold on to anything that gives them the holiday spirit. Her daughter asked to go out to buy drinks and sweets as they did before the war.

"I couldn’t refuse her request, even though prices are high," Lina said. "We walked a bit between the tents and bought a small item, but my daughter felt great happiness."

"These beautiful moments are what keep them (the children) holding together."

In Gaza - where more than 72,000 have been killed and hundreds of thousands have lost their homes - holiday celebrations may have changed but they have not disappeared.

It is present in a child’s laughter on a makeshift swing, in a mother’s determination to decorate her tent, and in a father’s effort to buy a piece of candy. The holiday is different but the spirit remains the same.