GAZA, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- "I really wish I could hug them again," 26-year-old Sumaya Awad said, her voice soft and distant, as she sat on the beach in Gaza City, scrolling through photos of her father and brother, all killed in an Israeli airstrike.
On the eve of 2026, Awad and her friends gathered on the same stretch of beach, once a place of celebration and togetherness, now a silent witness to the devastation, waiting for the new year to arrive.
"It is impossible, but I miss the warmth of my family," Awad added. "Before the war, we would celebrate the New Year together, preparing sweets and decorating the house. Now they are gone, our home is destroyed, and our dreams are shattered."
"I wish for a secure home, a dignified life, mornings filled with birdsong and the smell of bread and coffee, not the cries of hungry children," she said.
Taking photos by the sea and releasing balloons into the sky, 26-year-old Shahd Ahmed and her friends hope that 2026 will leave behind the pain Gazans have endured in the past year.
"We try to recapture a sense of joy, even if briefly, to temporarily forget the suffering our families and homes have endured," Ahmed said, noting the war has changed her daily life.
"Death knocked on every door. Our lives were divided between bombing, hunger, and displacement. Children can no longer play freely, only amid rubble and fear," she added.
According to the Gaza-based health authorities, the Israel-Hamas war has killed 71,269 Palestinians, including 12,500 women since it broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, with 171,232 more injured.
"Our wishes are simple. We want life to return to what it was before the war, to live safely and with dignity, sleeping without fear of bombings, missiles, and death," Ahmed echoed Awad.
In the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, Amina Rajab, a mother of three, spent her last day of 2025 waiting in line for water. Carrying two heavy jerrycans, Rajab said she missed "the days when electricity and water were available without waiting."
Rajab's husband was killed trying to obtain aid from a humanitarian organization.
"I wish my children could go back to school carrying books instead of water jugs, and we could live in a proper home instead of a tent that collapses in the rain," she said, "We hope this nightmare ends, families can mourn loved ones in peace, and children can live dignified lives filled with optimism rather than in tents and camps."
Whether it's security or the restoration of normalcy, these hopes now still appear to be too much to ask, as despite a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel taking effect on Oct. 10, Israel has carried out near-daily attacks on Gaza, with Gaza's health authorities reporting that Palestinian deaths since Oct. 11 have surpassed 400.
A full meal has also seemed like a luxury. Due to ongoing restrictions, Gazans are facing shortages of essential supplies, including water, electricity, and other vital services. According to the UN, about 1.6 million people in the Gaza Strip, more than 75 percent of the population, are projected to face extreme levels of acute food insecurity and critical malnutrition risks.
"Women here do not ask for wealth, only for life itself: security, schools for children, warm homes, enough food, and happy memories without fear," Sabah Attallah from Gaza City said. "We have the right to live in peace, like other women worldwide, without fear or humiliation." ■
