Palestinians started fasting for Ramadan on Monday. The ceasefire talks are at a standstill, and people in Gaza are getting hungrier. The war between Israel and Hamas has been going on for five months, and there is no sign of it ending.
People prayed outside among the wreckage of destroyed buildings on Sunday night. Some people put up lights and decorations in crowded tent camps. At a UN-school-turned-shelter, children were dancing and playing with foam while a man sang into a loudspeaker.
However, there wasn’t much to be happy about after five months of fighting, which has resulted in the deaths of over 30,000 Palestinians and caused extensive damage to Gaza. Families usually eat big meals to end their daily fast during holidays. But even if there is food, it’s mostly canned and too expensive for many people to buy.
Sabah al-Hendi, who was buying food in Rafah on Sunday, said that no one looked happy. “Every family feels unhappy. ” Every family has someone who sacrifices a lot for the family.
The United States, Qatar, and Egypt were trying to help make a peace agreement before a special month of fasting. They wanted to free Israeli and Palestinian prisoners and bring in a lot of aid. But the talks stopped last week.
Hamas wants to make sure that any deal will bring an end to the fighting, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to keep fighting until they defeat Hamas and free all the hostages.
The fighting started when Hamas-led fighters attacked southern Israel on Oct. Seven attacks happened, and they killed about 1,200 people, most of them were not soldiers, and they also took about 250 people as hostages. Hamas still has around 100 people and the bodies of 30 others after an exchange last year.
The fighting made almost 80% of the 2. 3 million people in Gaza leave their homes, and many are struggling to find enough food to eat. Health experts say that at least 20 people, mostly kids, have passed away from not eating enough and not drinking enough water in northern Gaza.
Israeli soldiers have mostly blocked the north since October. Aid groups say it’s very difficult to safely deliver much-needed food there because of Israeli restrictions, ongoing fighting, and the lack of law and order.
Israel has promised to attack the southern city of Rafah, where many people from Gaza have gone for safety. But they haven’t said where the civilians will go to stay safe. The United States. President Joe Biden said if Rafah is attacked, it is a serious issue for him, but the US will still give military help to Israel.
Biden said in his yearly Ramadan message that the holy month is happening “when there is a lot of suffering. ”
“As Muslims come together in the next few days and weeks to eat after fasting, many will be thinking about the hardships faced by the Palestinian people. ” “I’m thinking about it a lot,” he said.
The United States and other countries are dropping aid from the air to help people in need. But some groups say this is expensive and not enough to help everyone. The US military is moving equipment to build a sea bridge for delivering aid. It will take a few weeks for it to be ready.
A boat from the Spanish aid group Open Arms with 200 tons of food was going to sail to Gaza from Cyprus, but it wasn’t known when it would leave. Israel is okay with ships bringing stuff to Gaza from the sea. But first, they want to check the stuff on the ships before it goes from Cyprus to Gaza.
The boat in Cyprus will take two to three days to reach a secret place in Gaza. The food is given by a group called the World Central Kitchen, from the United States. A charity started by famous chef José Andrés has started building a jetty in Gaza. Once the ship gets to Gaza, the aid will be taken off using a crane, put on trucks, and driven to the north.
The United States has helped Israel with their military and defended them from other countries asking for a stop to the fighting. They have also told Israel to try to avoid hurting innocent people and make it easier for people to get help.
The Health Ministry in Gaza reported on Monday that 31,112 Palestinians have died since the war started. This includes 67 bodies that were brought to hospitals in the last day. The government doesn’t separate civilians from soldiers when counting the dead, but it says that two-thirds of the dead are women and children.
Israel says that many innocent people are dying because Hamas is fighting in crowded neighborhoods where there are a lot of houses, schools, and mosques. They also place their fighters, tunnels, and rocket launchers near these places. The army claims to have killed 13,000 Hamas soldiers, but there is no proof of this.
On Saturday, Biden told MSNBC that Israel had the right to react to the Oct. 7 attacks, but Netanyahu needs to care more about the innocent people who are being killed. He said you can’t have 30,000 more Palestinians dead.