Radwan Abdel-Hai, a displaced Palestinian sheltering in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza told the AFP news agency “we are already fasting”.
“Beyond food, this year, we have no Ramadan. Each family has a martyr or an injured person,” she said.
In the south of the Gaza Strip, 33-year-old Randa Baker told AFP “Ramadan this year is starvation, pain, and loss,” as she served her family a simple meal pieced together from charity and humanitarian aid.
“People who should have been on the table with us have gone,” said Baker, whose husband was killed along with 31 other people when an Israeli air strike flattened their and their neighbours’ homes in Gaza City last year.
Ramadan in Gaza – Palestinians break fast amid rubble
Palestinians have broken their fasts on the first day of Ramadan but in Gaza, not everyone has food.
Israeli restrictions on food and medicine entering the Strip have led to catastrophic levels of hunger in the south and imminent famine in the north. The number of Palestinians who have starved to death in the besieged enclave has now risen to 25.
‘A lot of people are afraid to go to the mosques’ after Gaza attacks.
Al Jazeera spoke to Mahmoud Al-Qeshwi, an English teacher who volunteers at a soup kitchen, on what life is like in Rafah on the first day of Ramadan.
“A lot of people are afraid to go the mosques because a lot of mosques were attacked,” Al-Qeshwi said.
“It’s a very lonely and miserable situation,” he added. “We try our best to provide food for these people to relieve pain, not all of our attempts are in vain, but it’s not enough at all.”
