As the Israel-Hamas battle rages on, Gazans break fast without experiencing the “joy of Ramadan.”As the Israel-Hamas battle rages on, Gazans break fast without experiencing the “joy of Ramadan.”

In Gaza, where fighting has been raging for more than five months, the first day of Ramadan passed with inhabitants observing a somber iftar against a background of starvation, illness, and migration.

While the Muslim world celebrated the beginning of the holy month on Monday, Gazans had to deal with ongoing Israeli bombing and an increasingly dire humanitarian situation.

25 people have already died from starvation and dehydration, the most of them youngsters, according to a UN report quoting the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. The delivery of food and other relief has reduced to a trickle.

Mohammad al-Masry, a resident of Khan Yunis who was evacuated, said that “canned food and beans” had replaced the customary iftar meal, which marks the conclusion of the day’s fast, in Rafah, Gaza’s southern border city, where 1.5 million Palestinians have taken sanctuary.

“We made no preparations. What belongings do displaced individuals have? Al-Masry said.

“The pleasure of Ramadan is not felt by us… Observe the individuals enduring the bitter cold in tents.”

Ramadan had “the taste of blood and misery, separation and oppression” this year, according to Om Muhammad Abu Matar, who was also uprooted from Khan Yunis and spoke to AFP.

For weeks, humanitarian organizations have alerted the world to the possibility of starvation in Gaza, and the UN has noted that it is especially difficult to enter the northern section of the territory to bring food and other supplies.

Cindy McCain, the director of the World Food Program (WFP), said on Monday that “we are running out of time.” “If we do not exponentially increase the size of aid going into the northern areas” of Gaza, she said, “famine is imminent” .

“Demolition and debris”

During the Muslim holy month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for “silencing the guns” and expressed his “appalled and outraged that conflict is continuing” on Monday.

One family broke fast on Monday at a table next to the rubble of their house in Gaza City, which is surrounded by crumbling structures.

“The first day of Ramadan is today. Despite the damage and the debris, we made the decision to come and break the fast here in our damaged house,” Om Shaher Al Qta’a remarked.

Zaki Abu Mansour said to AFP in Rafah earlier in the day that he had a little lunch before the fast started and didn’t know when he would have another one.

The inhabitant of Khan Yunis who had been relocated continued, pointing to a corner of his tent, “This is my kitchen.” “I have only a tomato and a cucumber — that’s all I have, and I have no money to buy anything.”

As assistance entering Gaza by truck has decreased significantly from pre-war levels and the desperation of Gazans has grown, international nations have resorted to airdrops and are now attempting to establish a marine relief corridor from Cyprus.

An official in the US administration has said that the Cyprus effort offers a platform for “screening by Israeli officials of Gaza-bound goods” at the port of Larnaca.

Aid workers claim that one of the main reasons for the acute shortages at the moment is the laborious screening process; nonetheless, Israel attributes the difficulties to the Palestinian side.

Aid workers have said that ground delivery would be much more successful than the United States and other nations’ Monday airdrops of goods into northern Gaza.

Lebanon’s strikes

Based on official Israeli numbers, an AFP assessment indicates that 1,160 people died in Israel as a consequence of the October 7 Hamas strike that ignited the conflict, the majority of whom were civilians.

About 250 hostages were also taken by the extremists; however, after a week-long ceasefire in November, many of them were freed. According to Israel, 31 hostages have perished and 99 captives are still alive in Gaza.

The health ministry in Gaza reports that 31,112 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s retaliatory shelling and ground invasion, the majority of them were women and children.

Israel’s military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said on Monday that Marwan Issa, the deputy leader of Hamas’s armed wing, was the target of an airstrike over the weekend on an underground complex in central Gaza; however, it remained unclear if he was killed.

Deep inside Lebanese territory, Israel launched attacks on Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, on Monday. The governor of the nearby Baalbek-Hermel province said that one individual had been killed.

Subsequently, the Israeli military said that two locations in the region had been struck by its planes “in retaliation to Hezbollah aircraft attacks launched towards the Golan Heights”.

“We have our neck on the line.”

A ceasefire and agreement on the hostage swap fell down after weeks of negotiations including US, Qatari, and Egyptian mediators, just before Ramadan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under pressure from both government opponents and the desperate relatives of hostages who have been taken hostage. He has also been receiving harsher criticism from the United States, a major ally.

In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Netanyahu responded to a question on the apparent conflict between him and US President Joe Biden by saying, “We have our agreements on the basic goals, but we also have disagreements on how to achieve them”.

“In the end, Israel must make the decision. There’s blood on our hands… We’re not going to let up on the gas, I assure you.”

From the beginning of the campaign, Netanyahu has consistently said that Israel would not stop until Hamas is destroyed.

However, US national security officials indicated that accomplishment would be challenging, forecasting Israel would probably “face lingering armed resistance from Hamas for years to come” in their annual threat assessment report that was made public on Monday.