In Gaza, 300 couples came together for a joint wedding, the largest mass wedding in the region to date.
At the event held in Deir al-Balah, the couple was selected through a lottery from among around 2,000 people.
The wedding was funded by the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation as part of Operation Gallant Knight 3, a humanitarian initiative to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in the United Arab Emirates.
One of the priests, Tekhra al-Masri, told the BBC the celebrations brought “hope for change” to Gaza refugees.
A ceasefire has been in effect in the Gaza Strip since October last year, but the situation is still weak.
The Gaza war was triggered by a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which left about 1,200 people dead and 251 taken hostage.
Israel has launched a military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, during which more than 72,560 people have been killed, the region’s health ministry said.
At least eight Palestinians, including three children, were killed in two Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on April 23, according to medics and emergency responders.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it targeted terrorists who posed an immediate threat by approaching troops in the Yellow Line area, which marks Israeli-occupied territory.
A Hamas spokesman condemned what he described as a “horrible massacre” and accused Israel of undermining efforts to implement the ceasefire agreement.
