GAZA CITY (AFP) - 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 Islamic 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 girlfriends 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. In line with local custom, the new couple will live at her husband's family home in the Nasser district. "During the offensive, several buildings around us were bombed," Aida says. "Thanks to God, our house was not hit. We lived in fear every day. Religious references litter her conversation and when asked what she hopes to do with her life, she said only: "My life is in God's hands." But she raises her voice at every mention of Israel. "They are liars in Israel," she says. "There were no weapons in the mosques or the schools but they still bombed them. They killed children. The world saw the pictures and did nothing." Aida said her children will be raised to respect Islam and taught above all that "the only way possible is resistance to enter paradise". "I want my children to become fighters on the path to God," she said. "If I am given the opportunity, I would die during an operation in Israel." Fadel, 35, arrived in a dark suit. He has worked for several years in one of the main charity associations set up in the 1970s by Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Fighting Israel is a duty, Fadel said. "We live here on our land, the land of resistance. They want to kill us but we will kill them first.