Palestinian bride Suwar Safi longed to wear the white dress and share her life with her groom Ahmed after their marriage, but instead, she now lives in a refugee camp after Israel launched airstrikes on the Gaza Strip controlled by Hamas. Suwar said, "Everyone comforted me and asked me to have faith; this is our fate and we must accept it," adding, "We did not have the opportunity to experience that joy."
Suwar (30 years old) and her family were displaced from northern Gaza and currently live in a tent at a UN site in Khan Younis in the south. Meanwhile, Ahmed Safi, who is from Khan Younis, still lives with his family and rarely meets Suwar due to the conflict. They were supposed to get married on October 19. Ahmed said that when the conflict broke out, he tried to contact his fiancée and her family to help move them from the north to the south. Israel urged Palestinians in Gaza City to move south, claiming it was safer, but airstrikes rained down across the Strip.
He said, "Even when we finally managed to get a car to take them here, the airstrikes occurred while leaving." He added, "As a 30-year-old man, I was eagerly awaiting this wedding and this day. October 19 turned from a day filled with joy into a disaster with sorrow, destruction, and death."
Wedding ceremonies often represent happy times in impoverished Gaza, which is one of the most densely populated places on Earth, with a population of 2.3 million. Due to high unemployment, many cannot afford the cost of marriage. The Health Ministry in Gaza stated on Wednesday that at least 6,546 Palestinians have been killed, including 2,704 children, as a result of Israeli bombings since October 7.
