Directly from Gaza: There will be no Eid for us this year!

Markets and shops are open today. I am just returning from the market, I went to buy some food for the family. And, I am afraid that from 8 PM tonight, the shelling will start again – said dr. Mohamad Abu Sultan, a doctor whose family and he are currently in besieged Gaza, for the BH News Agency Patria.

The Israeli and Palestinian sides have agreed to a 12-hour humanitarian ceasefire that began this morning at eight o'clock. At the request of the United Nations (UN), efforts will be made to restore peace to this area through diplomatic means during the short-term ceasefire.

According to medical sources, 19 Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed last night, the BBC reported. Since the beginning of the conflict on July 8, the Israeli army has killed more than 870 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Most are civilians.

Just before the ceasefire began, shells from an Israeli tank killed eight members of a Palestinian family.

Dr. Abu Sultan says that it is very difficult in all of Gaza. There is no electricity and clean water. No one can leave the Gaza Strip. People are dying every day. His family has not left the house for days, the children have been in shelters since the shelling began, while he tries to help vulnerable fellow citizens every day.

Although some Serbian and Bosnian-Herzegovinian media reported that the situation is not dramatic in all of Gaza, but only in certain parts, while people in other parts of Gaza live normally, even having fun on the beach, dr. Abu Sultan denies such claims.

- There is no electricity and water in all of Gaza. People are not leaving their homes. Shells are falling continuously. Every house can be hit at any moment. No one is safe. We are afraid for our children. At least you in Sarajevo know what it means to live under siege – says Abu Sultan.

He says that Gaza has a large number of martyrs, and that there will be no celebration of Eid, the greatest Muslim holiday, which Muslims around the world celebrate on Monday, July 28, as the culmination after a month of fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.

- Palestinians are fasting. People are persistent in this, despite the fact that the situation is very difficult for us. But there will be no celebration of Eid if the aggression against us does not stop by then, says Abu Sultan.

He greatly appreciates the support that Palestinians are receiving from all over the world, and especially from Sarajevo, where many of his friends live. Peaceful protests in support of Gaza and the Al-Quds Day, which was also marked yesterday in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, he says, give Palestinians the strength to be proud of their nation even under shelling, writes Patria.