Derna— A few thousands of Derna residents took part in Eid Al-Fitr prayers on Monday in the courtyard of Sahaba Mosque in the center of the city, the first time since the disaster of Storm Daniel that occurred in the early hours of 11 September 2023.
The Eid celebrations in the Sahaba (Companions) Mosque represents an important sign of the rebuilding and rehabilitation efforts in the city and a renewal of economic, cultural and social life of the population there.
The mosque itself that miraculously stood the flood while hundreds of the nearby building were washed out to sea in the middle of the night underwent considerable enlargement and refurbishing. The death toll of the storm reached over 20,000 people and thousands of bodies remain uncovered. The storm also caused the displacement of over 40,000 more people.
Representing the authorities in eastern Libya, the Director General of the Development and Reconstruction Fund (DRF), Belqasim Haftar, in the Eid prayers. This participation comes within “the framework of rapprochement with the city’s residents and the strengthening social ties,” according to a statement on the DRF’s Facebook platform.
In the Libyan capital Tripoli, the head of the interim Government of National Unity (GNU), Abdulhamid Dbeibeh participated in the Eid prayers in Martyrs’ Square.
During the Eid sermon, the Imam spoke about the situation in the Gaza Strip, which is being subjected to an ongoing war of extermination by the Israeli occupation army. He pointed to the suffering of the people of the Strip and their children from the ravages of Israeli aggression.
