Gaza Couple Holds Modest Wedding in Tent After Multiple Delays

Saja al-Masri, 22, arranged her few belongings inside a tent in a displacement camp in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza on 6 May 2026 as she prepared to marry her fiancé, Mohammed Ahliwat, 27, in just a few days. The couple got engaged a year ago while their families were displaced.

Their wedding, set for next week after multiple postponements, will take place in a rented space formerly used as a cafe.

Mohammed Ahliwat bought a tent for 1,500 shekels, about $509. He paid around 2,500 shekels, about $850, for wood and more than 2,000 shekels, about $679, for tarpaulins. A simple bathroom constructed from scraps of wood and plastic sheets cost another 3,000 shekels, about $1,019.

The tent contains two thin mattresses instead of a proper bed and a small cooking corner fashioned from wood and tarpaulin. Mohammed Ahliwat rented the small cafe space for the wedding for 1,500 shekels, or $509. Wedding halls in Gaza currently cost more than 8,000 shekels, or $2,717.

Before the war, apartments in Gaza were available for rent for between $250 and $300 a month. Mohammed Ahliwat previously lived in a large seven-storey house in Bureij in central Gaza and owned a fully furnished 170-square-metre apartment. He and his brothers owned poultry farms that supplied several areas in Gaza before the war.

"It’s not enough that I’m starting my life in a tent under harsh conditions, even this is unbearably expensive," Mohammed Ahliwat told Al Jazeera. He works odd jobs selling bread and canned goods or repairing bicycles. "Everything I earn barely covers food and water.

Saja al-Masri studied graphic design for one year before the war forced her to stop. She and her family were displaced from Beit Hanoon in northern Gaza, then Gaza City, and are now in Deir el-Balah. Dress shops in Gaza quoted more than 2,000 shekels, or $679, to rent a wedding dress for one night.

"When I tried the dress yesterday, I felt so sad … I burst into tears. It was worn out, torn at the edges, and outdated," Saja al-Masri said, her voice breaking. "I slept last night with tears on my cheeks … but there’s nothing we can do.

Beauty salons in Gaza charge nearly 700 shekels, or $238, to prepare a bride. Samira al-Masri, 49, Saja’s mother, has married off four daughters — Ilham, Doaa, Ameerah, and Saja — during the war.

Samira al-Masri’s 26-year-old son is approaching marriage. She expressed deep sadness at being unable to celebrate her daughters properly or give them the wedding they dreamed of. "As you can see, there aren’t enough clothes, no proper items for a bride … no suitable dress, not even a wardrobe or a bed," she said while helping Saja arrange her few belongings.

Bedroom furniture now costs between 12,000 and 20,000 shekels, or $4,076 and $6,793, in Gaza. Before the war, bedroom furniture sets in Gaza cost around 5,000 shekels. The couple settled for mattresses on the ground.

Unemployment in Gaza has reached 80 percent according to the Gaza Ministry of Labour. Poverty rates in Gaza have risen to 93 percent. More than 72,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, Al Jazeera reported.

"The situation is not normal … I can’t pressure him or ask what he did or didn’t bring. Everyone knows the situation … we’re all living it," Samira al-Masri said. She added that she prays God helps young men and women trying to marry today because even the simplest costs have become unaffordable.

Saja al-Masri agreed to a modest dowry that Mohammed Ahliwat will pay in instalments. "Sometimes, I feel it’s a miserable beginning … but when I see Mohammed with me, I overcome my sadness," she said with a faint smile as she looked at her future husband.