Month of Ramadan in Gaza begins with hunger worsening and no end to war in sight
RAFAH, GAZA STRIP
Palestinians began fasting for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Monday with cease-fire talks at a standstill, hunger worsening across the Gaza Strip and no end in sight to the now-five-month-old war between Israel and Hamas.
Prayers were held outside amid the rubble of demolished buildings. Fairy lights and decorations were hung in packed tent camps, and a video from a U.N.-schoolturned-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 sunrise-tosundown 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 Gaza’s southernmost city, 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 holiday. The hoped-for cease-fire was to have included the release of dozens of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of a large amount of humanitarian aid into Gaza, but the talks stalled.
Hamas is demanding guarantees that any such agreement will lead to an end of the war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected that demand, vowing to continue the offensive until “total victory” against the militant group and the release of all the remaining hostages held in Gaza.
Netanyahu said Monday that Israel had killed “Hamas’ number four” leader and added that more targeted killings were to come.
“Three, two, and one are on the way. They are all dead men. We will reach them all,” he said.
Netanyahu probably was alluding to the assassination of Saleh Arouri, the deputy political head of Hamas and a founder of the group’s military wing, who was killed in a blast in Beirut in January. Israel was widely believed to be behind the blast, although it did not take responsibility.
U.N. Secretary General António Guterres urged
Israel and Hamas to honor the spirit of Ramadan by “silencing the guns” and releasing all the hostages.
“The eyes of the world are watching. The eyes of history are watching. We cannot look away,” he said. “We must act to avoid more preventable deaths. … Desperate civilians need action — immediate action.”
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 back to Gaza as hostages. Hamas is still believed to be holding around 100 captives and the remains of 30 others after an exchange last year.
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 of 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 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 saidthat 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 United States and other countries have begun airdropping aid, but humanitarian groups say such efforts are costly and inadequate.
The U.S. military has also begun transporting equipment to build a dock to deliver aid on the Gaza coast, but it is likely to be several weeks before it is operational.
A ship belonging to Spanish aid group Open Arms was expected to make a pilot voyage to Gaza from nearby Cyprus, although when it would depart was unclear.