by Sanaa Kamal

GAZA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Hala al-Refi would not wear her new clothes that she bought for the celebration of Eid al-Fitr, which ends the month of Ramadan.

The 15-year-old Palestinian girl from Gaza was killed during an Israeli air raid on Wednesday when jets attacked their residential building in southern Gaza city, along with four other Palestinians.

"Hala finished her preparations to celebrate Eid al-Fitr after long days of fasting by purchasing new clothes and shoes, but the occasion turned into tragedy and grief," said Raafat al-Refi, Hala's grandfather.

She was thinking about celebrating the festival with her family and friends instead of attending entertainment places and restaurants, according to her 65-year-old grandpa.

"Unfortunately, death had other plans, and an Israeli airstrike harvested her soul. She will spend her feast in a small grave, not exceeding two meters, where she is buried," he said.

The Israeli attack has also injured Hala's parents and sister.

"We were preparing to celebrate the Eid. I bought salted fish, sweets, and nuts, but unfortunately, all of these were in vain because of the Israeli crime," Raafat said. His eyes were flooded with tears.

The Israeli-blockade coastal enclave is now witnessing a military escalation that started on Monday with the Israeli army, after al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, fired a barrage of rockets from the strip into several Israeli towns as a retaliation for the alleged Israeli "violations against the East Jerusalemite Palestinians in Al-Aqsa mosque."

In response, the Israeli war jets carried out raids against Hamas targets and residential buildings in various places across the Gaza Strip.

On Tuesday evening, the Israeli warplanes completely destroyed a civilian building west of the Gaza city, causing severe damage to residential buildings adjacent to it.

Fatima Sakallah, a Palestinian woman who lives next to the destroyed building, said that the military tension in the Gaza Strip deprived the residents of their Eid al-Fitr.

"I was shocked when I knew that our area would be targeted by Israeli aircraft," she said, adding that on such days she was interested in decorating her home for the Eid.

But this year is different, as her house has become uninhabitable. Instead of presenting gifts for her children, she now feels that she needs to protect them from death threat posed by missiles, she said.

Meanwhile, Talia Sakallah, Fatima's daughter, complained that she, her siblings and friends were not able to celebrate the Eid in light of the continued bombing of the Gaza Strip.

"I bought new clothes for the celebration, but I will not be able to wear them or even play with my friends in the street, because it has become destructive and scary," she said.

"We are afraid to play in the street. The Israeli planes may kill us as they did with children in (the city of) Beit Hanoun two days ago," she continued, while holding a small dirty doll with black smoke.

On Wednesday morning, Israeli jets targeted another residential building housing more than 120 families in the center of Gaza.

Nael al-Rayyes, the owner of an apartment in that building, complained that his family was displaced again for the second time in less than seven years, after the end of the Gaza conflict in 2014.

The 55-year-old father of five said that he and his family experienced this feeling back then, where they turned homeless without any shelter or hope for life.

He called on the international community to protect the Palestinians from the "Israeli oppression."

According to the Hamas-run ministry of information in Gaza, Israeli warplanes attacked about 500 housing facilities, causing total or partial damage, while damaging about 1,000 other housing units.

So far, 67 Palestinians, including six women and 17 children, were killed, and 388 others were wounded by the Israeli raids, it said.

The situation is not much different in the West Bank, where the Palestinians expressed solidarity with the residents of the Gaza Strip and decided that they would not celebrate Eid al-Fitr in view of their exposure to Israeli bombardment.

Mohammed Bowaitel, a resident of Ramallah in his 30, said that he spends most of his time following the news and development in the besieged strip, which is undergoing the most significant Israeli air attack in years.

"My family and I will not celebrate the Eid, as is the case for the majority of the West Bank residents. We condole for them, and we feel helplessness for not helping them to get rid of the oppression of the Israeli army," Bowaitel said. Enditem

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