While Gaza suffers, some Muslim Americans see Eid-al-Fitr in a different light

More than six months into the Israel-Hamas war, some Muslim Americans aren’t in the mood for an elaborate Eid celebration. Others are ever determined to honor the holiday.

For Laila El-Haddad, Eid-al-Fitr calls for sumagiyya. In Gaza, where El-Haddad spent summers growing up, the tangy lamb stew with sumac, chard and chickpeas is synonymous with joyous occasions, especially the three-day Muslim holiday that breaks the month-long fasting period of Ramadan. The dish was her aunt’s specialty, and El-Haddad — who now lives in Maryland with her husband and four children — has fond memories of eating bowlfuls during family celebrations. But this Eid, which began at sundown on April 9, the sumagiyya will taste bittersweet. Last November, her aunt An’am Dalloul, along with El-Haddad’s cousins Hoda, Wafaa and Hani, were killed in an Israeli airstrike in their neighborhood in Gaza City, El-Haddad told CNN. Dalloul — whom El-Haddad refers to by the fond familial name of “Um Hani,” or “mother of Hani” — connected her to her family’s recipes and culinary traditions. El-Haddad spent countless hours interviewing her for the 2012 cookbook “The Gaza Kitchen.” Now, those traditions — along with Gaza and its people — are in crisis.