’We have been fasting for five months’
Gazans fasting in Ramadan under starvation
International Desk
Palestinians began fasting for Ramadan on Monday as the Muslim holy month arrived with cease-fire talks at a standstill, hunger worsening across the Gaza Strip and no end in sight to the Israel’s brutal strikes on the besieged territory.
Prayers were held outside amid the rubble of demolished buildings late Sunday. Some people hung fairy lights and decorations in packed tent camps, and a video from a UN-school-turned-shelter showed children dancing and spraying foam as a man sang into a loudspeaker.
But there was little to celebrate after five months of war that has killed over 31,000 Palestinians and left much of Gaza in ruins. Families would ordinarily break the daily fast with holiday feasts, but even where food is available, there is little beyond canned goods and the prices are too high for many.
“You don’t see anyone with joy in their eyes,” said Sabah al-Hendi, who was shopping for food in the southernmost city of Rafah. “Every family is sad. Every family has a martyr.”
In the ruins of Gaza, many living under plastic tents and facing a severe shortage of food.
“We made no preparations to welcome Ramadan because we have been fasting for five months now,” said Maha, a mother of five, who would normally have filled her home with decorations and stocked her refrigerator with supplies for the evening Iftar celebrations when people break their fast.
Israel has blocked the entry of food and aid supplies into Gaza draining its limited health services.
Extreme hunger
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said Ramadan comes in Gaza at a time when “extreme hunger spreads, displacement continues, and fear and anxiety prevail.”
“This month should bring a cease-fire for those who have suffered the most,” Philippe Lazzarini wrote in an X post.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt had hoped to broker a cease-fire ahead of the normally joyous month of dawn-to-dusk fasting that would include the release of dozens of Israeli captives and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of a large amount of humanitarian aid, but the talks stalled last week.
Hamas is demanding guarantees that any such agreement will lead to an end to the war, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the offensive until “total victory” against the resistance group and the release of all the remaining captives.
The war has driven around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people from their homes and pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of famine. Health officials say at least 25 people, mostly children, have died from malnutrition and dehydration in northern Gaza.
Israeli forces have largely sealed off the north since October, and aid groups say Israeli restrictions, ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of law and order have made it nearly impossible to safely deliver desperately needed food in much of the territory.
Israel has meanwhile vowed to expand its offensive to the southern city of Rafah, where half of Gaza’s population has sought refuge, without saying where civilians would go to escape the onslaught. US President Joe Biden has said an attack on Rafah would be a “red line” for him, but that the United States would continue to provide military aid to Israel.
The United States and other countries have begun airdropping aid in recent days, but humanitarian groups say such efforts are costly and insufficient.
This is while, the US has been providing crucial military support to Israel since the beginning of the war and shielded it from international calls for a cease-fire.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said Monday that at least 31,112 Palestinians have been killed since the war began.