Khan Younis, Gaza Strip ¨C New clothes for children, sacrificial sheep and Eid biscuits, the hallmarks of the Muslim holiday, are all either unaffordable or unavailable in the Gaza Strip, casting a shadow over what is usually a time of celebration and joy.

¡°I go to the market only to look around because I cannot afford to buy anything. Whenever I ask about prices, I return heartbroken,¡± said Nadia Abu Shamala, a Palestinian resident of Gaza.

¡°This year, Eid comes with none of the joy we once knew in Gaza because of the effects of the war, the soaring prices, and our inability to provide even the simplest needs for our children,¡± said the 40-year-old woman from Gaza¡¯s north displaced to the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah for over two years.

Despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that began in October 2025, Israeli airstrikes are still common in Gaza, where 80% of buildings were damaged in the war and most of the population depends on aid for basic needs, according to the United Nations.

Israel controls all entry points to Gaza?and lets trucks of foreign aid and private sector goods enter in numbers that are too low to bring down war-inflated prices or shortages, nongovernmental organizations on the ground say.

¡°The truce is a big lie, but in any case, we are trying to create joy for the children,¡± said Abu Abdullah al-Mosadar, 59, who said he pooled around 13,000 shekels ($4,570) with his brother to buy a sheep for sacrifice.

It is an amount that very few Gazans can afford.

¡°I know it is very expensive, but I decided to perform the sacrifice this year,¡± said Mosadar, a former property dealer from one of central Gaza¡¯s well-established families, adding that he hopes to start his construction and real estate business when circumstances permit.

Central to Eid al-Adha celebrations, which mark the end of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, is the sacrificing of a sheep.

According to Islamic tradition, God asked the Prophet Ibrahim, or Abraham in Jewish and Christian tradition, to sacrifice his son as a test of faith, only to stop him at the last moment and provide an animal to sacrifice, instead.

But in tiny Gaza, livestock cannot enter from the outside, and only one quarter of the prewar¡¯s sheep population remains, or about 15,000 for the coastal territory¡¯s 2.1 million inhabitants, according to the U.N.¡¯s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

¡°Regarding prices this year, sacrificial animals are witnessing an unprecedented increase due to the limited supply and the rising costs of breeding, feed, and transportation, and the shutdown of many farms,¡± said Raafat Asaliya, spokesperson for Gaza¡¯s agriculture ministry.

As a result, ¡°a sheep or goat that was sold...