Dubai, UAE— Lights and fireworks illuminated the skies in many cities in the GCC as the region welcomed the arrival of 2024 with renewed hope for peace and growth in the region.
The celebrations were muted though as more grim news emerged from Gaza, speaking of new horrors committed by the Israeli army against the civilian population of the besieged enclave. The United Nations estimates that almost two million Gazans have been displaced since Israel’s siege began, or about 85 percent of the peacetime population.
With once-bustling Gaza City neighborhoods reduced to rubble, there were few places left to mark the new year — and fewer loved ones to celebrate with.
Dubai erupted in a kaleidoscope of light and excitement, marking the arrival of 2024 with a vigor unrivaled by any other. This year, the emirate’s New Year’s Eve celebration takes on a special significance, pulsating with an infectious energy fueled by record-breaking tourism and a palpable economic surge.
The crown jewel of this festive frenzy lies in the heart of Dubai, where hotels overlooking the iconic Burj Khalifa boast a staggering 100 percent occupancy. Every room with a view of the world’s tallest building has been snapped up by eager celebrants, testament to the unparalleled allure of witnessing the Burj Khalifa’s annual fireworks extravaganza.
But the magic extends far beyond the waterfront. Throughout the city, hotels report occupancy rates soaring above 90 percent, with every corner buzzing with the arrival of international tourists. From families seeking festive fun to thrill-seeking adventurers, Dubai has become a magnet for global revelers, drawn by its promise of an unforgettable New Year’s Eve experience.
This influx of visitors translates into a vibrant economic heartbeat. Commercial centres thrum with activity, their aisles teeming with shoppers enticed by exclusive discounts and the irresistible spirit of the Dubai Shopping Festival. Restaurants overflow with joyful laughter and clinking glasses, while entertainment venues pulsate with music and merriment, catering to every taste and age group.
The New Year celebrations at Sheikh Zayed Festival had the Middle East’s largest firework display lasting over 40 minutes, aiming to break four Guinness World Records. A drone show with over 5,000 drones created intricate patterns and set a new Middle East record. Additionally, there will be a first-of-its-kind laser show, special laser and music shows at different locations, and cultural performances from around the world.
Beyond the borders of the Middle East, fireworks illuminated skies over Paris, Rio and Sydney to celebrate the entry to 2024, while in Israel, Gaza and Ukraine, rockets and strikes marked the year’s earliest hours.
Much of the world’s population — now more than eight billion — is hoping to shake off high living costs and global tumult in 2024, which will bring elections concerning half the world’s population and the Paris Olympics.
But with the new year barely started there were already ominous signs: at the stroke of midnight in Gaza a barrage of rockets was fired towards Israel — a twisted reflection of the fireworks lighting up night skies elsewhere around the world.
In New York City, thousands of visitors lined up for a chance to see the annual dropping of a giant illuminated ball in Times Square.
Nearby stallholders hawked vuvuzelas and 2024-branded hats as police fanned out across central Manhattan, towing suspicious cars, closing roads and manning a ring of steel screening would-be revelers.
Hours earlier, more than a million partygoers had packed in around the harbor in Sydney, the self-proclaimed “New Year’s capital of the world,” to watch eight tonnes of fireworks.
Pyrotechnics also illuminated the skies in Auckland, Hong Kong, Manila and Jakarta.
Nudist bathers wearing Santa hats waded into the mild waters of southern France, while revelers danced in the streets in Greece’s Thessaloniki.
In Denmark, popular Queen Margrethe II, Europe’s longest-serving monarch, chose her New Year’s Eve address to announce her coming abdication.
The 83-year-old monarch will step down in favor of her son, Crown Prince Frederik, after 52 years on the throne.
The last 12 months brought “Barbenheimer” to the box office, a proliferation of human-seeming artificial intelligence tools, and a world-first whole-eye transplant.
India outgrew China as the world’s most populous country, and then became the first nation to land an unmanned craft on the Moon’s south pole.
It was also the hottest year since records began in 1880, with a spate of climate-fuelled disasters striking across the world.
Fans bade adieu to “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll” Tina Turner, “Friends” actor Matthew Perry, hell-raising Anglo-Irish songsmith Shane MacGowan, and master dystopian novelist Cormac McCarthy.
Rebuilding
2023 will be remembered for war in the Middle East, after Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 raids on southern Israel and Israel’s ferocious reprisals on Gaza.
The United Nations estimates that almost two million Gazans have been displaced since Israel’s siege began, or about 85 percent of the peacetime population.
With once-bustling Gaza City neighborhoods reduced to rubble, there were few places left to mark the new year — and fewer loved ones to celebrate with.
“It was a black year full of tragedies,” said 37-year-old Abed Akkawi, who fled the city with his wife and three children to a UN shelter in Rafah, southern Gaza.
“God willing this war will end, the new year will be a better one, and we will be able to return to our homes and rebuild them, or even live in a tent on the rubble,” he told AFP.
In Tel Aviv, Israel, 24-year-old Ran Stahl preferred to work his shift at a wine bar during New Year’s Eve, saying he didn’t have the heart to celebrate.
“The minute I start dancing, the sadness and mourning come back,” said Stahl, whose friend died at the trance music festival during Hamas’s October 7 attack.
Some in Vladimir Putin’s Russia were also weary of conflict, this time in Ukraine.
“In the new year I would like the war to end, a new president, and a return to normal life,” said 55-year-old theatre decorator and Moscow resident Zoya Karpova.
But Putin himself remained bullish in his New Year’s Eve address, vowing that Russia “will never back down”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s New Year’s Eve address, after nearly two years of war, was defiant.
Ukrainian pilots were mastering the F-16 warplanes supplied by their allies, he said. In 2024, “we will definitely see them in our skies. So that our enemies can certainly see what our real wrath is.”
Russia would also feel the full force of Ukraine’s domestic arms production, he added, including at least a million drones.
In Rome, Pope Francis prayed for the victims of conflicts around the globe, including the people of Sudan and the “martyred Rohingya” of Myanmar.
“At the end of a year, have the courage to ask how many lives have been torn apart in armed conflicts, how many deaths?” the 87-year-old pontiff said after his Angelus prayer in St Peter’s Square.
“And how much destruction, how much suffering, how much poverty? Those who have an interest in these conflicts, listen to the voice of conscience.”