Ramadan begins as hunger and fear stalk Gaza Middle East crisis

The New York Times carries an article about the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Caliber.Az reprints the article.

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan is usually a time of religious devotion, dawn-to-dusk fasting, charity, family gatherings and nightly feasts.

Even without Ramadan, we are fasting: Gazans brace for a holiday of hardship.

All that seems far away this year in Gaza, now in the sixth month of an Israeli military offensive and near-total blockade. More than 31,000 people have been killed in Israel’s bombardments and ground invasion, severe hunger is spreading and the coastal strip has been devastated. The war has erased how Palestinians here used to live and observe Ramadan.

In peaceful times, the streets of Gaza’s cities would be packed with families buying Ramadan decorations and supplies — colorful lamps, food and sweets — and preparing for days of fasting, evenings of eating with family and nights of prayer at mosques.

“I remember the festivities of the month while walking through the market streets, with chants and praises everywhere,” said Ahmad Shbat, a 24-year-old street vendor. “Everything was available, and the mosques played a vital role.”

Now families have been separated and dispersed as most of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents have been forced to flee their homes. Many live in crowded tent encampments. Mosques that Israel claimed were used by Hamas fighters have been bombed to rubble. Gazans had hoped that a cease-fire deal would be reached before Ramadan began, but that didn’t happen.

Muslims can be exempt from fasting for many reasons, and some in Gaza have said that the hardships of war will make it difficult to observe daylong fasts. Others say that with starvation threatening Gaza, most are eating only one meal a day in any case and fasting will be no different from the hunger they have been forced to endure for months.

The enclave is nearing a famine, United Nations officials say. Almost no aid has reached northern Gaza for weeks. Gazan health officials say at least 20 Palestinian children have died from malnutrition and dehydration.

People are so hungry that some have resorted to eating leaves and animal feed. Many have been subsisting on a native wild plant known

Mr. Shbat, who was displaced from his home, is sheltering with four members of his family in a school classroom in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza. He said that Ramadan this year “won’t be pleasant, especially because we will be away from our houses and loved ones.”

“There is no meaning to the month without gathering around the table with the family,” he said in a phone interview. And with the destruction of mosques, he added, it feels like “we lost the joy of Ramadan.”

Still, people are doing what they can to observe the holiday. At the school where Mr. Shbat is living, he said, people have prepared the courtyard for the nightly Ramadan prayers called taraweeh.

Iman Ali, a 42-year-old mother of four whose husband was killed in the war, said in a telephone interview from Jabaliya that she would spend her days going out to look for food for her children, two of whom are injured. But she can’t find anything in the markets to buy, she said. For more than a month she and her children have had barely anything to eat.

“Even without Ramadan, we are fasting,” she said.

Normally in the lead-up to Ramadan, Ms. Ali would be at her home in northern Gaza preparing the house for a month of worship and festivities. Instead, she spends her days walking the streets looking for food and praying for an aid airdrop from the sky.

Despite the daily struggles and uncertainty they are living through, they hold on to their faith and religious practices.

“We can’t not fast,” Ms. Ali said. “It’s Ramadan.”

Hopes for a cease-fire before the Muslim holy month were dashed.

International hopes of reaching a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan were dashed on Sunday, hours before Palestinians and other Muslims were to begin the month of daytime fasting, as Hamas repeated demands for a comprehensive cease-fire, which Israel has rejected.

Egypt, Qatar and the United States had sought to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas before the start of Ramadan on Monday, and there had been optimism for a last-minute deal that would allow for the release of some Israeli hostages held in Gaza and Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

But weeks of indirect negotiations have stalled, and a top Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said in a televised speech on Sunday that Hamas wanted an agreement that would end the war, guarantee the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, return displaced Palestinians to their homes and provide for the humanitarian needs of Gazans.

Israel “wants to get its prisoners back and then resume the war on our people,” he said.

Mr. Haniyeh said if the mediators were to inform Hamas that Israel was committed to ending the war, withdrawing from Gaza and permitting the return of displaced people to the north, then the Islamist group would be ready to show flexibility on the issue of exchanging Palestinian prisoners for hostages.

“The enemy must understand that it will pay a price on the issue of an exchange, but the top priority is protecting our people, ending the aggression and massacres, returning the displaced people to their homes, and opening a political horizon for our issue and people,” he said.

Some Palestinians in Gaza have criticized Hamas, arguing the group was holding up negotiations in order to press Israel into freeing more Palestinian prisoners.

In an interview with Politico that was published on March 10, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel suggested a cease-fire was not imminent, saying that he would “like to see another hostage release” but that there had not been a breakthrough in negotiations.

“Without a release, there’s not going to be a pause in the fighting,” he said.

Israel has said it must wipe out Hamas’s military and governing abilities in Gaza before agreeing to end the war. It also has said a key goal of the war was the return of all the hostages taken in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7.

On March 8, David Barnea, the chief of the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, met with the C.I.A. director, William J. Burns, in an effort to advance a deal to release hostages, the Israeli spy agency said. The Mossad accused Hamas of seeking to inflame the region at the expense of Palestinians in Gaza, but said that ongoing talks were aimed narrowing the gaps between Israel and Hamas.

In an interview with MSNBC on Saturday, President Biden said that he remained hopeful that the United States could still help broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas as Ramadan approached, kicking off a month of family celebrations and nightly feasts.

“I think it’s always possible,” Mr. Biden said.

Israeli police officers blocked many Palestinians from Al Aqsa Mosque at the start of Ramadan.

Palestinian and Israeli news media reported late March 10 that police officers had prevented many Palestinians from entering Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City to perform prayers for the start of Ramadan.

Both cited a video that shows officers with batons chasing and beating some Palestinians. Video taken by The New York Times also shows people running from uniformed officers who are using batons.

The mosque is one of the holiest structures in Islam, and is a chronic flashpoint in tensions between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel has long restricted access to the mosque during Ramadan for Palestinians from the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Last week, Israel said it would let a similar number of worshipers enter the Aqsa Mosque compound — which is also sacred to Jews — during the current holy month as it had in previous years.

But the potential for tensions remained. Hamas has called on Palestinians to engage in “confrontation with the enemy to protect Al Aqsa” during Ramadan. Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister, who had called on the government to tighten restrictions on access to the mosque for Muslims during the holy month, said that failing to do so would undermine efforts to destroy Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 7.

The 35-acre site that encloses the mosque is known by Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, and by Jews as the Temple Mount. The site is part of the Old City of Jerusalem, and is sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims.

In Arabic, “aqsa” translates as farthest, and in this case it is a reference to Islamic scripture and its account of the Prophet Muhammad traveling from Mecca to the site in one night to pray and then ascending to heaven.

The mosque, which can hold 5,000 worshipers, is believed to have been completed early in the eighth century and faces the Dome of the Rock, the golden-domed Islamic prayer hall that is a widely recognized symbol of Jerusalem. Muslims consider the whole compound to be holy, with crowds of worshipers filling its courtyards to pray on holidays.

Many Palestinians say their access to Al Aqsa compound has become increasingly restricted in favor of Jews, who consider the Temple Mount one of the most sacred places in Judaism because it was the site of two ancient temples. The first was built by King Solomon, according to the Bible, and destroyed by the Babylonians; the second stood for nearly 600 years before the Roman Empire destroyed it in the first century.

Incidents at the compound have at times been the spark for broader conflicts. The second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, was set off in 2000 when Ariel Sharon, who later became Israel’s prime minister, visited Al Aqsa surrounded by hundreds of police officers. Confrontations at the compound in May 2021 contributed to the outbreak of an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas.

Biden, marking Ramadan, says the war has inflicted ‘terrible suffering’ on Gazans.

President Biden, marking the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, said he would press for a cease-fire in Gaza and more humanitarian aid for the territory, and noted that many American Muslims were grieving for family members killed there.

The war has inflicted “terrible suffering” on the Palestinian people, Mr. Biden said in the statement, released Sunday night, adding that “more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them civilians, including thousands of children.” In addition, nearly two million people have been displaced and need food, water and shelter, he said.

Mr. Biden’s comments were part of a tradition of US presidential statements marking religious holidays, but they carried additional political significance given many Arab Americans’ opposition to US support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

In one measure of the war’s potential electoral significance, more than 100,000 voters in Michigan’s Democratic primary last month registered their ballot as “uncommitted.” That signaled discontent over the war among Arab Americans, as well as some young voters and progressives, in a battleground state.

Mr. Biden noted that the United States was carrying out airdrops of aid and reiterated a US commitment to building a temporary pier on Gaza’s coast, as well as working with Israel to expand deliveries of aid by land.

Since October 7, when Hamas led an attack on Israel in which the authorities there say around 1,200 people were killed, the number of trucks entering Gaza daily with food and other humanitarian aid has dropped by around 80 percent, according to U.N. data.

“The United States will continue working nonstop to establish an immediate and sustained cease-fire for at least six weeks as part of a deal that releases hostages,” Mr. Biden said, referring to around 100 hostages seized on October 7 who Israeli authorities say remain in captivity in Gaza.

“We will continue building toward a long-term future of stability, security, and peace,” he said in the statement, which also decried an “appalling resurgence of hate and violence toward Muslim Americans.”

Netanyahu rejects a rebuke from Biden as their public rift grows.

A day after President Biden asserted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was “hurting Israel more than helping Israel,” Mr. Netanyahu dismissed that contention as “wrong,” escalating the leaders’ increasingly public dispute.

Mr. Netanyahu, in an interview with Politico, challenged Mr. Biden’s assessment of Israel’s military strategy in the Gaza Strip, and said that his policies represented what the “overwhelming majority” of Israelis wanted.

“I don’t know exactly what the president meant, but if he meant by that that I’m pursuing private policies against the majority, the wish of the majority of Israelis, and that this is hurting the interests of Israel, then he’s wrong on both counts,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

He added, “They’re policies supported by the overwhelming majority of the Israelis. They support the action that we’re taking to destroy the remaining terrorist battalions of Hamas.”

Mr. Netanyahu was responding to comments Mr. Biden made on March 9 in an interview with MSNBC. Mr. Biden rebuked Mr. Netanyahu over the rising civilian death toll in Gaza, even as he reaffirmed American support for Israel.

“He has a right to defend Israel, a right to continue to pursue Hamas, but he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken,” Mr. Biden said.

“In my view, he’s hurting Israel more than helping Israel,” Mr. Biden said, appearing to refer to Mr. Netanyahu’s military strategy. “It’s contrary to what Israel stands for, and I think it’s a big mistake. So I want to see a cease-fire.”

Asked by the interviewer, Jonathan Capehart, if he had a “red line” that Mr. Netanyahu should not cross, like a ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, Mr. Biden offered a muddled response but said that “the defense of Israel is still critical.”

“He cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead as a consequence” of his pursuit of Hamas, the president said, referring to Mr. Netanyahu.

“There’s other ways to deal, to get to, to deal with the trauma caused by Hamas,” he added.

Mr. Biden did not offer details. The Gazan health ministry has said that more than 31,000 people have been killed in the enclave since Israel began the war in response to the October 7 attacks launched by Hamas.

But the president’s comments once again highlighted the delicate position the United States has found itself in: arming Israel while at the same time providing humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Mr. Biden has been more forceful in recent days about the plight of civilians in Gaza, urging Mr. Netanyahu not to go ahead with his stated plans to launch a major ground offensive in Rafah without a plan to protect those sheltering there. More than a million Gazans have sought refuge in the city, many of whom were displaced by Israeli military orders to move into so-called safe zones.

In the interview with Politico, Mr. Netanyahu reiterated that Israel still intended to invade Rafah: “We’ll go there. We’re not going to leave. You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is, that October 7 doesn’t happen again. Never happens again.”

When asked about Mr. Biden’s remarks, Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, declined to say what they suggested about the relationship between the US and Israel.

“I am trying to separate between rhetoric and essence: The goals of the war and the state of Israel are simple — they are to release all of the hostages and to dismantle Hamas’s military and leadership force,” Mr. Katz told Kan, Israel’s public radio network on March 10. “The United States supports these goals as Biden had stressed yesterday.”

He added that Israel had said there would be a plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah before any ground invasion, and he reiterated that his country’s military did not “deliberately harm civilians.”

The push toward Rafah has drawn warnings from the United States and other allies about the potential humanitarian cost. The United Nations has said that a ground invasion of Rafah could have “huge implications for all of Gaza, including the hundreds of thousands at grave risk of starvation and famine in the north.”

Under Mr. Biden’s direction, US military cargo planes have in recent days dropped food, water and other aid into Gaza a handful of times. The latest airdrop came on March 10, when the US military said it dropped meals along with rice, flour and other goods into northern Gaza.

In addition, the Biden administration has announced plans to build a floating pier off the coast of Gaza to deliver more supplies to the enclave.

But American officials have acknowledged that dropping aid by air and building a pier will not be as effective as delivering supplies by land, an option that Israel has largely blocked.

A US military ship has set sail to help build a pier off Gaza for aid.

The US military said on March 10 that a ship had set sail carrying equipment to build a floating pier on Gaza’s coast, part of a Biden administration effort to deliver aid to the enclave by sea and help ease its hunger crisis.

The administration’s plan for a pier and causeway, announced last week, could eventually help deliver as many as two million meals a day for residents of Gaza. But the Pentagon has said that the project will take weeks to complete, and humanitarian officials have criticized the plans, saying delivering aid by truck is far more efficient.

On March 10, the US military said that an Army ship, the General Frank S. Besson, had set sail from a base near Norfolk, Va., a day earlier. It was unclear when it would reach Gaza.

“Besson, a logistics support vessel, is carrying the first equipment to establish a temporary pier to deliver vital humanitarian supplies,” it said in a post on social media.

The Pentagon has said that one of the main military units involved in the construction of the floating pier would be the Army’s Seventh Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary), and that some 1,000 American service members would work to complete it.

The Israeli military will help coordinate the installation of the pier, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces, said on March 9. Shipments will be inspected by Israeli troops before they are handed off to aid groups that will distribute it, he said.

The US project is the latest in a flurry of efforts to get more aid into the enclave — including by sea — amid warnings from the United Nations that a famine in Gaza is imminent.

Such plans will come with significant logistical challenges and a hefty price tag, diplomats and officials have said. Aid officials have said that trucks are the most efficient and cheapest way to deliver food and supplies to Gaza, urging Israel to open more border crossings and ease its entry restrictions.

Britain, the European Union and the United Arab Emirates said on Friday that they would join a separate maritime initiative to get aid into Gaza.

And on March 9, World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit organization founded by the renowned Spanish chef José Andrés, said that its staff was loading a cargo ship in Cyprus with 200 tons of rice, flour and proteins. It added that the ship was expected to depart from Larnaca, Cyprus, as soon as possible and head off on an estimated 60-hour trip to the Gaza Strip.

The ship, called Open Arms, is owned by a Spanish aid group of the same name that is a partner in the initiative along with the United Arab Emirates. They are trying to deliver the first sea shipment of food and humanitarian supplies to Gaza.