Friday prayers held on the ruins of Gaza’s mosques

According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, Zionist regime has completely destroyed 835 mosques and partially damaged more than 180 others, including historic mosques that were flattened by indiscriminate bombing targeting even places of worship.

Anadolu’s correspondent reported worshipers gathering atop rubble, clearing it with their bare hands, spreading simple fabrics to pray, and raising the call to prayer in neighborhoods where minarets had fallen silent for months.

Over the past two years, the Zionist regime's army has dropped more than 200,000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip, destroying nearly 90% of its infrastructure and forcibly displacing nearly two million civilians whose homes were almost entirely obliterated.

Ghaleb Al-Nimr, a Gaza resident, told Anadolu, “After months of deprivation, we’ve returned to pray, even among the ruins. Just standing here gives us peace after the pain of war and the loss of loved ones.”

Another resident, Abu Asi, said that after long months without communal prayers, “this day is truly blessed, bringing people back together to pray, even if it’s on the ruins of mosques destroyed by Israeli airstrikes.”

Since the beginning of the genocide, Zionist regime has destroyed most of Gaza’s major mosques, including the Great Omari Mosque in Gaza City, Sayyed Hashim Mosque in Al-Daraj neighborhood, Katib Al-Welayah Mosque, and the Omari Mosque in Jabalia.

Churches have also been targeted, including Gaza’s historic Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church, the Holy Family Church, the only Catholic church in Gaza City, and the Baptist Church.

Friday prayers have resumed following the implementation of a ceasefire agreement that went into effect on October 10, 2025, after two years of Zionist regime’s genocidal war, which left around 68,000 people martyred and 170,000 injured, the majority of them children and women.