BEIRUT (AP) — Back home, Lilian Jamaan would have been shopping for clothes for her daughter and buying meat and sweets in preparation for the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
But now, “there’s no joy for Eid or for Ramadan or for anything,” she said by phone, speaking from a school-turned-shelter in the Lebanese city of Sidon.
As Muslims worldwide prepare for the typically joyous holiday, Lebanon has crossed a grim milestone. The renewal of the war between Israel and the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group has displaced more than 1 million people in Lebanon. Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,000 people, Lebanese health officials say.
Earlier this month, the Iran-backed Hezbollah entered the wider Iran war by firing rockets at Israel. That prompted heavy Israeli bombardment of southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs, driving many from their homes.
Longing to return home
Basma Alloush, a spokesperson for the International Rescue Committee, said many of the children she spoke with have the same wish — “to just spend Eid at home.”
Instead, they now may have to spend the holiday “in shelters, in displacement,” Alloush said.
The suffering has played out during Ramadan, with scenes of people forced to flee their homes, sleeping in tents on the streets or in their cars. Some have secured coveted spots in schools and other locations turned into shelters or are staying with relatives.
Many others scrambled to find makeshift arrangements — only a fraction of the displaced are in shelters.
For Jamaan, the harsh conditions meant she could no longer observe many aspects of Ramadan — the dawn-to-sunse …