Ahmad Al Sharif Celebrates His Wedding on a ‘Bulldozer”

Ahmad and his bride will never forget their wedding day. It was a joyous occasion because he was married on a bulldozer amidst the ruins of his Sheikh Radwan neighborhood which is part of Gaza City.

Social media websites covered the festive occasion at length, Friday, with him being carried in the mouth of the bulldozer as he danced next to his bride with people cheering him on as Palestinian danced the dabbakeh folklore and traditional song.

The bride Ahmad Al Sharif travelled back with his wife Alaa, from Deir Al Balah in the center of the Gaza Strip. The newly-weds were part of a group wedding of a massive 300 people that was held in that city’s “Dier Al Balah Services Club” and organized by the UAE-based Al Khalifah Humanitarian Corp.

Such happiness can only be displayed in Gaza where the Strip is “starving but happy” according to its people. “I was particularly keen to have part of my wedding on a bulldozer to show the ruins and debris my neighborhood and city has been reduced to by the Israelis,” Al Sharif said.

For him Friday, will be remembered as an ecstatic occasion. The collective wedding began in Deir Al Balah at 1 pm on Friday noon where brides and grooms from all over the Gaza Strip got “hitched” in plush rented out white dresses and black suits and watched by thousands of people.

About 120 couples came from the Radwan, Shujayia, and Rimal areas of Gaza City and the north of the Strip while the rest from central Gaza, Khan Younis and Rafah, the last city being on the southern border with the Sinai Peninsula and Egypt.

Some of the couples also came from their new homes in tent cities hoisted in the months after the Israeli genocide soon after 7 October, 2023 when thousands of people were displaced and chased away through Israeli guns.

The big wedding ceremony lasted till mid-afternoon Asr prayer and all the couples started to move out and go back to where they came from.

“We wanted to get back to our homes before dark,” Al Sharif. “I actually wanted to get back to my neighborhood before sunset to have another party, and boy, what a send that turned out to be.” This was true because of the videos that splashed the Internet.

He surprised everyone by having the party on a bulldozer with his bride sitting next to him; it is him and his bride Alaa that made the news headlines on social media websites as the other couples took their new brides back home without much pomp nor ceremony considering the circumstances.

“I wanted to have a party among the rubbles as a point of defiance and show the Israeli army that they can’t beat our spirit,” he added. “We had a good show, judging from the number of people who came to greet us and join in the festivities,” he added.

Most of the people of Gaza has been reduced to living among the wreckage, debris and in tents. The UN estimates that between 57.5 to 68 million tons of debris clutter the Strip today; and these piles were created by the 100,000 tons of explosives thrown on the enclave by Israel since 7 October, 2023.

The total number of people that have been killed in Gaza stands at 72,600 while over 172,000 have been injured as shown by the Gaza Health Ministry.

Not many married during the genocide of the last two years or so. Young people have been delaying till things become relatively quite, war-wise. Ever since 11 October, 2025, a ceasefire took place in Gaza as backed by US President Donald Trump.

Although the killings and injury continue through the Israeli military, by comparison, they are much lower than when the war on Gaza had been at its highest, and which explains why more and more people are getting married in the enclave.

Marwan Asmar is a writer from Amman and is Chief Editor of crossfirearabia.com

CrossFireArabia

Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

Uncategorized

A Wedding in Ruin: Israel’s Answer to Happiness!

CrossFireArabia
August 9, 2026

Shattered Dreams: The Bridal Dress Story

By Palestine Information Center

Aya Matran’s morning became like no other. She was to be a bride preparing to put on her white wedding dress and begin a new life. However, In Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, she stood beside her father on the rubble of the home that was supposed to welcome the first days of her married life. She stood in a daze searching through stones and dust of the remains of her dreams buried in an instant by an Israeli airstrike only hours before her wedding.

Nothing remained of the house except piles of concrete and twisted metal. Buried beneath the rubble were her wedding dress, gold jewelry, bridal belongings, and everything the bride and her family spent years working to prepare for. What was meant to be a day of joy became yet another encounter with loss.

Five Hours…

The family had chosen the wedding day on what was thought to be a period of relative calm, hoping the celebration would take place at a time when there would be no bombing. But just five hours before the ceremony, the groom’s family was forced to evacuate the house after receiving a phone call from the Israeli forces. Shortly afterward, an Israeli airstrike targeted the house and completely destroyed it. Everything went up in smoke!

Aya says that everything was ready for the beginning of her new married life. All that remained was for her to put on her wedding dress. Instead, the bombing destroyed everything she had prepared and turned what should have been the happiest night into a painful memory.

She says her dreams were not extravagant. She simply wanted to begin her married life just like other young women. But the war took away her home, her bridal belongings, her personal possessions, and even the wedding dress that remained buried beneath the rubble.

Dad Relives the Memories Among the Ruins

Her father, Shadi Matran, stood beside her, looking at the place that was supposed to be filled with celebration but had instead become a scene of destruction and silence.

He says the family was shocked to learn that the house had been bombed only a few hours before the wedding, after they had completed all the preparations despite the severe economic conditions facing the Gaza Strip.

He adds that his daughter had left almost nothing behind at the family house, as she had already moved all her belongings to her future marital home. But within moments, everything disappeared beneath the rubble.

He explains that returning to the site each day feels like reliving an endless nightmare. From time to time, family members search through the debris, hoping to find anything that might remind them of what once stood there—or anything that can be salvaged from the memory of the home.

Wedding Dress Under The Rubble

Aya says she is no longer asking for much. She simply hopes to recover some of what she lost and retrieve some of the belongings buried beneath the rubble, especially the wedding dress she never had the chance to wear.

She stresses that the war did not merely postpone her wedding. It shattered a beginning she had waited years for and turned happiness in Gaza into a deferred dream, at a time when thousands of Palestinians are experiencing similar losses—the loss of homes, loved ones, and hopes for the future.

A Plea…

The bride’s father concludes by appealing to the international community and humanitarian organizations to work towards ending the war, so that the daughters of Gaza can celebrate their weddings away from continuous bombing and destruction.

In Gaza, the rubble no longer conceals homes alone. It also buries postponed stories, shattered memories, and dreams beneath the concrete. Among them lies a bride’s wedding dress that was waiting to see the light of day, but instead remains a silent witness to a war that did not even leave joy a chance to be complete.

This article was originally written in Arabic and appeared in the Palestinian Information Center. Here it is translated in AI format and appears in crossfirearabia.com

Uncategorized

Yemen’s Asma Ali Appointed First US Judge in Mississippi

CrossFireArabia
August 7, 2026

From the Little Yemen Platform in The US – Yemeni-American talent continues to make its mark in many fields across America. This time it. is being made at the highest levels of justice, with Asma Ali’s appointment as a judge in a Mississippi municipal court. Her appointment makes her the first American judge of Yemeni and Arab descent in the state.

This achievement is not just a personal success, but an inspiring message affirming that knowledge, hard work, and perseverance are the true path to building the future, and that the sons and daughters of the Yemeni community are capable of reaching the highest positions when given the opportunity and when they believe in their dreams.

This achievement is also a source of pride for every Yemeni, and it embodies the status that Yemeni women can attain when given the opportunity for education and work, allowing them to excel, distinguish themselves, and raise the name of their homeland and community with honor.