Father and son dress as Santa, visit Gaza tent city with gifts, music to celebrate New Year

sundown bathed the magnetic north of Gaza metropolis in prosperous illume Tuesday evening as Izzat Al-Qawasmeh and his 11-year-old son Mohamed climbed through rubble to the top of a building that once housed hundreds of people. 

Surrounded by other bombed-out structures, an expanse of white tents where people now live stood below. 

The father and son had decided to visit the tent city with gifts, dressed in Santa Claus costumes.

Mohamed carried a gaggle of red and white balloons as Al-Qawasmeh played mournful songs from his saxophone — the career that sustained him for 20 years before the war and still today. Later that night, he would play the instrument at a wedding. 

"We wanted to, with the start of the New Year, do something that would make people happy, that would bring them hope," Al-Qawasmeh said. 

Gaza Santa plays music for children amid the rubble

The area around Al-Maqousi Towers in northern Gaza City used to be a bustling neighbourhood where thousands of people lived. Cars and scooters buzzed around vendors and shops; plants hung on balconies and out of windows. 

Tuesday evening, it was quiet as Al-Qawasmeh's saxophone rang out through the mostly empty streets. 

As he played near some tents, a pile of debris behind him, a group of children gathered around. 

One young girl dressed all in red with two pigtails emerged from a tent as her mother smiled behind her. Mohamed handed her a red balloon that she waved at the small audience. 

"Our children's lives are important to us," said Al-Qawasmeh, who has three kids. 

"I hope that 2026 will be a good year on Gaza … and that it will be filled with rebuilding and the beginning of a new life."

In another neighbourhood, Al-Rimal, west of Gaza City, other Palestinians shared some of their hopes for the New Year.

"We were oppressed in the war but we remain steadfast until now, despite the cold and the rain," said 32-year-old Mohammed Shatat.

"We wake up to rats and mice. Our life dream is that we go back to sleep inside homes."

Since a ceasefire brokered by the United States began on Oct. 10, the future of a peace plan in Gaza has remained uncertain. Conditions of life inside the territory haven't improved as much as had been hoped. 

Despite promises from Israel that it would allow 600 aid trucks into the territory per day, United Nations figures show only about 113 a day entered in October and November.

More than 300 Palestinians are reported to have been killed by Israeli strikes since that ceasefire began and 900 have been injured. Israel has said those strikes were in response to Hamas actions. 

On Monday, Israel announced it was banning more than two dozen humanitarian organizations from continuing to operate in Gaza for failing to comply with new registration rules. 

Earlier this month, a leading global authority on food crises, The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said that though full-out famine had been averted, people in Gaza continue to face starvation and the situation remains fragile.

Last weekend, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed to Florida to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, winter rains caused flooding in the Gaza Strip, filling tents, soaking belongings and dissolving clay ovens meant for cooking. 

Al-Qawasmeh said a "clear vision of the future" feels "far off," but he clings to the belief that things will improve soon.

"The coming days will be good, God willing. They will be days full of joy and happiness and the cloud will go away just like winter goes away," he said. 

As he played his instrument and Mohamed held up his balloons, the crowd of little children started to clap along to the melody. They walked together in the fading sun, clapping and dancing.

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