Palestinians in Gaza begin Ramadan with growing famine, ongoing Israeli war
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 Israel’s five-month-old war on the 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 30,000 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 on Sunday in the southernmost city of Rafah. “Every family is sad. Every family has a martyr.”
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 hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of a large amount of humanitarian aid.
The talks stalled last week with Hamas demanding guarantees that any such agreement must lead to an end to the war, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the offensive until “total victory” against the militant group and the release of all the remaining hostages.
Israel’s war has driven around 80 percent 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 20 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 and ongoing hostilities 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. 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.
Biden acknowledged in his annual Ramadan message that the holy month comes “at a moment of intense pain.”
“As Muslims gather around the world over the coming days and weeks to break their fast, the suffering of the Palestinian people will be front of mind for many. It is front of mind for me,” he said.
The Health Ministry in Gaza said that at least 31,045 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The ministry says that women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.
