Palestinians begin Ramadan amid growing hunger and no end to the war in sight

Palestinians began fasting for Ramadan on Monday at the start of the Islamic holy month, as ceasefire talks remained stalled and hunger worsened in the Gaza Strip, with no end in sight to five months of war between Israel and Hamas.

Sunday night prayers were held outdoors among the ruins of demolished buildings. Some people hung string lights and decorations in crowded tent camps, and video from a United Nations school converted into a shelter showed children dancing and spraying foam as a man sang into a loudspeaker.

But there was little to celebrate after five months of a war that has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians and left much of Gaza in ruins. Typically, families would break the day’s fast with celebratory feasts, but even where there is food, it is little more than 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 buying food on Sunday in the southernmost city of the enclave, Rafah. “Every family is sad. Every family has a martyr”.

USA, Qatar and Egypt had attempted to mediate a ceasefire ahead of the normally joyful month, in which worshipers fast between dawn and dusk. The deal would have included the release of dozens of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners and the entry of a large amount of humanitarian aid, but negotiations stalled last week.

Hamas has demanded guarantees that the deal would lead to an end to the war, while Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the offensive until “total victory” against the armed group and the release of all remaining hostages.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostages. Hamas is believed to still have about 100 captives and the remains of another 30 already deceased, after an exchange last year.

The war has driven around 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes and pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of famine. Health authorities say at least 20 people, most of them children, have died of malnutrition and dehydration in northern Gaza.

Israeli forces have largely blockaded the northern part of the territory since October, and aid groups say Israeli restrictions, continued fighting and the breakdown of law and order have made it nearly impossible to safely deliver needed aid. with desperation in much of the territory.

Meanwhile, Israel has promised to expand its offensive to the southern city of Rafah, where half of the Gazan population has taken shelter, without clarifying where civilians would escape from the attack. US President Joe Biden has said that attacking Rafah would cross a “red line” for him, but that the US will continue to provide military aid to Israel.

In his annual Ramadan message, Biden acknowledged that the holy month is coming “in a moment of intense pain”.

“As Muslims gather around the world in the coming days and weeks to break their fast, the suffering of the Palestinian people will be the first thought on the minds of many. It’s the first thought for me“, said.

The United States and other countries have begun air deliveries of aid in recent days, but humanitarian groups say those efforts are costly and insufficient. The US military has also begun transporting equipment to build a dock from which to deliver aid, although it will likely be several weeks before it is operational.

A ship from the Spanish aid group Open Arms carrying 200 tonnes of food aid is scheduled to make a pilot trip to Gaza from nearby Cyprus, although it is unclear when it will set sail. Israel said it welcomes maritime deliveries and will inspect goods bound for Gaza before they leave Cyprus.

The ship is expected to take two to three days to arrive at an undisclosed location in Gaza. The food has been provided by World Central Kitchen, an American charity founded by television chef José Andrés, which said construction of a sea wall in Gaza had begun on Sunday. Once the ship reaches the territory, the aid will be unloaded by crane, placed on trucks and taken north.

The United States has provided crucial military support to Israel and shielded it from international calls for a ceasefire, while urging it to prevent harm to civilians and facilitate humanitarian aid.

The Health Ministry in Gaza said Monday that at least 31,112 Palestinians have died since the war began, including 67 bodies taken to hospitals in the past 24 hours. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, although it says women and children account for two-thirds of the dead.

Israel blames Hamas for the civilian death toll because the militants fight in residential areas and place fighters, tunnels and rocket launchers near homes, schools and mosques. The military says it has killed 13,000 Hamas fighters, without presenting evidence.

Speaking Saturday to MSNBC, Biden said Israel had the right to respond to the Oct. 7 attack, but that Netanyahu ““must pay more attention to the innocent lives that are being lost.” He added that “There cannot be another 30,000 dead Palestinians.”