Eid signifies the last day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. But for those living in countries like Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Nigeria and others that are presently at war, facing insurgencies or a crisis, it is a day of mourning. Inas Ashour, 16, who suffered a head injury during shelling in the eastern Gaza suburb of Zeitoun told Reuters,"I do not know about Eid. Maybe there is an Eid outside. We are all wounded here." When asked if she was happy, five-year-old Aya Al-Namla told Reuters, "Yes, before the bombardment."
The Israel-Gaza conflict has escalated to an all time high with the most recent offensive being an airstrike on a Palestinian hospital and park killing 10 children and injuring 46. Israel and Hamas are busy playing the blame game and the Israeli Defence Forces took to social media to defend themselves, saying "the Hamas is responsible for the deaths and the group was hitting their own people with misfired rockets."
Even though the fighting between the two sides relaxed for sometime after Hamas requested a 24-hour ceasefire to mark Eid al-Fitr, it did not last long.
Both sides fail to realise that this back and forth is leading to nothing but the killing of innocent civilians. Each day, bags carrying children's bodies are increasing while morgues have no space left. Sitting next to her son's freshly dug grave, Abir Shammaly whose son was killed during heavy Israeli shelling of the Shejaia district in east Gaza told Reuters, "How should a mother feel when she opens her eyes on the day of Eid and does not see her son next to her?"
Meanwhile, Nigeria is struggling with the grave problem of insurgency posed by the Boko Haram. Earlier this year, the Islami-Jihadist terrorist organisation kidnapped girls from the Chikbok district. This led to the Nigerian government receiving a lot of flack from the world and highlighted the government's inability to curb insurgency. Just a few days ago, the Boko Haram kidnapped the Cameroon vice prime minister's wife.
Crisis also rages on in Iraq, where the ISIL recently declared its Chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, "the caliph". The situation in Iraq reached a critical state when ISIL militants began to take over various regions in the country, and many foreign nationals living in Iraq had to be pulled out including a number of Indian nurses who were trapped in a hospital for days.
And then there is the Syrian war which blew out of proportion in 2013 leading the United States to almost launching an offensive in the country over the excuse that Syria possessed chemical weapons.
Similarly, violence in the North Waziristan province of Pakistan where the government is trying to get rid of the Taliban, has also led to a number of civilian casualties and people have had to flee their houses because of the Zarb-e-Azb operation (a military offensive by the Pakistan government against the insurgent groups).
With these incidents of unrest looming over all these crisis-hit countries, people here have dim hopes for their future. A UN official also said that a humanitarian ceasefire is necessary as Gaza will take years to get back to normalcy. On this auspicious day of Eid, all that the innocent people caught in the crossfire are praying for is a swifter resolution to the conflicts so that their lives are not exploited.
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