Soaring food prices put damper on Eid al-Adha in Mideast | Reuters
The Eid al-Adha festival should be the busiest time of the year for Mahmoud Abu Holy, a livestock merchant in the Gaza Strip. But soaring prices have driven away many of the people who would usually buy a sheep or goat to sacrifice on the Muslim holiday.
Just a few days before Eid al-Adha begins on Saturday, Abu Holy says he cannot afford to cut prices because of the sky-rocketing cost of animal feed - a side effect of the Ukraine war which has jolted global agricultural markets.
"We stand here the whole day without selling any of our animals," said Abu Holy, struggling to find buyers at Khan Younis market in southern Gaza.
Mohammad Issa, 24, decided against buying once he discovered how much a sheep would cost. "Last year I bought a sacrifice for $300, today I found out it would cost $500 or $600 so I decided I wouldn't do it," he said.
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