Dressed in traditional Palestinian prints and a suit, Eman Hassan Lawwa and Hikmat Lawwa walked hand-in-hand past the crumbled buildings of southern Gaza in a line of couples dressed exactly the same as them.

The 27-year-old Palestinians were among 54 couples on Tuesday to get married in a mass wedding in war-ravaged Gaza that represented a rare moment of hope after two years of devastation, death and conflict.

"Despite everything that has happened, we will begin a new life," said Hikmat Lawwa. “God willing, this will be the end of the war.”

Weddings are a key part of Palestinian culture which have become exceedingly rare in Gaza during the war, and a tradition that some couples have been able to restart in the wake of a fragile ceasefire, even if they are different from the elaborate wedding ceremonies once held in the territory.

Yet as roaring crowds waved Palestinian flags the southern city of Khan Younis, celebrations were dampened by ongoing crisis in war-torn Gaza.

The celebrations took place in the city where masses of people were displaced from their homes during the war, and were organized and funded by Al Fares Al Shahim, a humanitarian aid operation in Gaza by the United Arab Emirates. In addition to holding the event, the organization offered couples a small sum of money and other supplies to start their lives together.

Most of Gaza's 2 million residents have been displaced by the war, and aid shortages and outbursts in conflict continue to plague daily lives of people like Hikmat and Eman, who fled to city of Deir al-Balah during the war and have struggled to find basics like food, shelter. They said they don’t know how they’re going to build their lives together given the situation around them.

“We want to be happy like the rest of the world. I used to dream of having a home, a job, and being like everyone else," he said, preparing for the ceremony on Monday from the tent he lives in.

For Palestinians, weddings are often elaborate days-long celebrations, seen as both an important social and economic choice that spell out the future for many families. They include joyful dances and processions through the streets of massive families, colorful fabric patters donned by the couple and their loved ones and heaping plates of of food.

On Tuesday, a procession of cars carrying the couples drove through stretches of collapsed buildings. Hikmat and Eman waved Palestinian flags with other couples as families surrounding them danced to music blaring over crowds.

Lawwa and Eman, who was cloaked in white, red and green traditional textiles on Tuesday, said the wedding offered them a small moment of relief after years of suffering.

But Eman said it was also dampened by the loss of her father, mother, and other family members who were killed during the war, but said she hoped the wedding marks the start of a brighter future.

"My joy is very, very incomplete, firstly because my family isn't here," she said, tears streaming down her face. "I wish they were here."