Gaza Welcomes the New Year Amid Hopes of Survival Hope and determination define Gazans amid the sorrow of memories

The people of the Gaza Strip welcome the new year 2026 outside their homes—or what remains of them—amid the rubble and destruction left by years of bombardment and siege. No decorations light up the sky, and no sounds of joy rise in the alleys; instead, torn tents and cold ground cradle bodies exhausted by displacement, along with memories of homes that were once safe havens before turning into ruins.

The artist Yazed Abu Jarad, around the sands of the sector’s mournful beach, created an artwork titled 2026, which carried within it a shy hope, buried wishes, harsh regrets, as if it were a painting colored with the black of night, yet he intended to express willpower despite the surrounding pains.

On bitterly cold winter nights, displaced people gather around modest fires that barely fend off the cold from children shivering with hunger and fear. The new year arrives upon them while stomachs are empty, clothes offer no protection from the freezing cold, and the most basic necessities of life are absent—an image where the harshness of nature blends with the cruelty of war, turning survival itself into a daily battle.

Grief dominates faces as Gazans recall past years when they welcomed the New Year among their families, inside warm homes, with simple wishes and lives less burdened by pain. Today, memories surface as added anguish, and loss becomes the master of the moment: the loss of loved ones, the loss of homes, and the loss of a sense of stability.

Enduring Hope

Despite all this, the spark of hope does not completely fade. In mothers’ eyes there is a silent prayer; in fathers’ whispers, a promise of steadfastness; and in fleeting children’s laughter, resistance to sorrow. They welcome 2026 while clinging to life, believing that no matter how long the darkness lasts, it must be followed by dawn.

In Gaza, the new year is not measured by the number of minutes that pass at midnight, but by the number of hearts that continue to beat despite the wounds. 2026 arrives heavy with pain, yet it also carries a single shared wish: that it be the year the suffering ends and the beginning of a life worthy of a people who have never known surrender.