GAZA CITY: Wearing traditional Palestinian dresses, the white fabric intricately embroidered in a rainbow of colours, dozens of smiling brides clutched red bouquets as they walked with their grooms past the tents and ruined buildings of Gaza City.

To the tune of popular songs played from loudspeakers in a city square, the couples whose marriages had been long-delayed by war and displacement, sat on stage with joy written across their faces.

Thousands turned out to watch the mass wedding against the backdrop of buildings gutted by Israeli strikes over the course of the devastating two-year war.

Attendees clapped and smiled as a troupe performed the dabke, an Arabic folk dance, while women’s ululations echoed through the crowd.

“I can’t quite believe that I’m finally getting married,” Ali Mosbeh said at the start of the ceremony.

“I was sitting in the tent when my phone rang... I couldn’t believe it. I’m still in shock,” he said, recounting the moment he received the call informing him that he was among the 50 young men selected.

The mass wedding is one of many to have been organised since a ceasefire took effect in Gaza in October. This particular event was organised and funded by a Turkish humanitarian organisation, IHH.

The smartly-dressed grooms wore traditional Palestinian keffiyeh scarves adorned with the Turkish organisation’s logo, while the brides’ bouquets were dotted with small Turkish flags.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2026