‘We will celebrate amidst destruction’: Young couple marries in Gaza camp
Al Jazeera
The young pair hold a simple ceremony, sharing their wedded joy with a camp for the displaced in Deir el-Balah.
Deir el-Balah, Gaza – In the middle of a makeshift camp for the displaced in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, the air was filled with sounds of celebration. Dozens had gathered to mark the wedding of a Palestinian couple from the north.
Mahmoud, 23, and Shaima Khaziq, 18, had planned to marry more than eight months ago, but postponed the event because of the Israeli war on Gaza that began last October.
For more than two months, the displaced couple, along with their families, had resided in a makeshift camp in Deir el-Balah after being forced to flee the Shujayea neighbourhood in Gaza City. “We left our home amidst bombardment and gunfire, seeking refuge here, thus postponing our wedding,” Mahmoud told Al Jazeera.
“We had hoped to wait until the end of the war to celebrate, but with no end in sight, we decided to celebrate amidst simplicity,” he said.
The couple held a simple ceremony with the hopes of bringing some semblance of joy to their hearts and those of their displaced neighbours and friends.
