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.

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550,000 Palestinian Workers Unemployed

CrossFireArabia
May 1, 2026

The General Federation of Palestinian Trade Unions (GFPTU) is cancelling all events commemorating 1 May International Workers’ Day, due to the difficult circumstances facing the Palestinian working class, it stated Thursday.

The number of unemployed Palestinians has reached approximately 550,000, with unprecedented unemployment rates reaching 85% in the Gaza Strip and 38% in the West Bank, the Federation added according to Qudspress.

More than 250,000 workers were prevented from accessing their workplace in the 1948 territories since October 7, 2023, and have been without income for more than 30 months., the GFPTU continued. This led to the depletion of their savings and is forcing them to sell their belongings to meet their families’ needs.

About 50 workers were killed and more than 38,000 arrested during the same period while the Federation holds the Israeli government responsible for conditions of Palestinian workers and demanding they be compensated, their rights restored, and be returned to their jobs.

The GFPTU noted that they are filed complaints with the International Labour Organization (ILO), but have yet to receive a response, indicating about 90% of workers lack social protection systems, amidst declining job opportunities, the expansion of the informal economy, and rising living costs.

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11 Israel Soldiers Commit Suicide in April

CrossFireArabia
April 27, 2026

Israeli soldiers continue to commit suicide in what is becoming a disturbing phenomenon that is becoming linked to Israel’s war on Gaza since October 2023, and now the war ongoing Lebanon.

The Israeli media have continued to report on what is becoming a rising trend of soldiers taking away their lives in Israeli society.

In its Sunday edition of 26 April the Israeli Haaretz newspaper highlighted the fact that eight Israeli soldiers and police officers committed suicide this month alone. The paper adds that three reservists who took part in the war on Gaza also ended their lives this month, making the total to 11 in less than one month.

The number of suicide rates have been increasing since 2023. Then 17 took away their lives, including seven after the 7 October, when the Israeli genocide on Gaza began. Thus, after that, 21 soldiers ended their lives in 2024 and increasing to 22 in 2025. In between the figures it is estimated that 279 soldiers attemoted suicide but didn’t succeed.

Statistics show in the previous decade the average suicides were 12 per year stabilizing from the 28 cases peak of 2010.

Data reports for 2026 shows that reserve soldiers formed the highest number of suicides, at least five cases as compared to three among conscripts and two cases in the ranks of those who take up soldiering as an occupation.

The Israeli military establishment is finding itself unable to control the suicide phenomenon with those in leadership roles realizing the fact that soldiers who are suffering from psychological distress are not seeking help. Haaretz quotes one officer in human resources as saying the army “thought at the beginning of the war it can control the situation but it later blew in its face”.

Psychological experts say the recent rising suicide rates is to do with the fact Israel has never experienced the present kinds of wars it is presently involved in like Gaza and/or Lebanon. The soldiers are under continuous pressure to fight and the fact that the reservists are being called up more than once magnifies the crisis that already exists.

Haaretz points out the army has decreased its support for soldiers who need psychological treatment and sends them back to the warfront before evaluating their psychological state. The soldiers are continually under pressure by their officers to go back to fight or else face arrest.

Also, the declared numbers don’t show the real picture, the newspaper argues, pointing out that there are soldiers who committed suicide after they left the military service with the Israeli army admitting that by the end of 2025, there were 15 cases of this kind. The paper said there were four such cases with three in the last month.

This article is based on a report in Arabic published in the Palestine Information Center and it is republished at crossfirearabia.com.