Gaza bride marries to raise 'martyrs'

There was no party, no celebrations when 22-year-old Aida al-Qaddumi finally got married this week. There were no regrets either - she said she was marrying to raise 'fighters' and asked only that she might die as a 'martyr' in Israel.

Three weeks of a deadly Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip forced postponement of the January 7 wedding, but it did not alter her intentions.

The bride nonetheless went to a beauty salon in the city's central Rimal district for her hair and makeup for the big day on Thursday.

The groom, Fadel al-Ghul, brother of Hamas justice minister Faraj, was to fetch her several hours later. Both had agreed that out of respect for the dead - more than 1,300 Palestinians from Gaza - there would be none of the fun of the trappings of a traditional feast.

Apart from the terrible casualty toll, the wedding hall hired for the party had anyway been razed by Israeli bombs. At the salon, Aida was accompanied by her friends, all covered from head to feet in traditional Muslim dress and seated quietly in a corner.

The bride wore a long white robe shining with silver sequins, her face veiled. In a tiny voice, Aida declared herself 'happy' to be wed, but 'saddened' by the 'destruction, the dead.'

"One of my friends lost her brother and several cousins. Many families have lost children," she said.

The Shujaiya quarter where she lives is a Hamas stronghold which came under heavy fire from Israelis troops. Dozens of people - many of them civilians - were killed and dozens of houses destroyed.