No end in sight

Ramadan in Gaza is the Ramadan of the second Palestinian Nakba, the Catastrophe wrought by Israel’s 1948 war of establishment when between 10-12,000 Palestinians were killed, around 800 estimated to have been civilians.

Between April 1st, 1948, and the March 1949 armistice agreements involving Arab and Israeli forces, 750,000 Palestinians out of a population of 1.3 million were driven from their homes in villages, towns and cities conquered by Israel. An estimated 200,000 took refuge in Gaza, which had a population of 60,000 at the time. Ramadan that year came in August when many perished in the heat as they fled Israeli troops.

Between October 7th last year and the onset of Ramadan on March 11th this year, at least 31,000 Palestinians were killed, 70 per cent women and children. While Israel claimed it slew 10,000 combatants, no figure has been given for non-combatant men. The UN estimates that 85 per cent of Gazans have been displaced and driven from Gaza’s cities, towns, and refugee camps and 100 per cent are hungry. Many have been fasting since Israel’s bombardments began, the electricity and supply of water from Israel were shut off, and 500 lorries a day stopped entering Gaza from the Kerem Shalom crossing to deliver food and other essential supplies to Gaza.

Despite the ongoing Nakba, Gazans have observed Ramadan as best they could with fasting, praying, and mourning for their dead while Israel has maintained its air, land and sea offensive and restrictions on humanitarian aid. The Ramadan ceasefire touted by US President Joe Biden did not come into force due to disagreements by Hamas, which wants a permanent ceasefire, and Israel, which is determined to carry on its war until Hamas is eliminated although this is impossible to achieve.

Gazans see no end to the war during Ramadan, which is meant to be a month of peace-making. Efforts to deliver urgently needed relief supplies by airdrops and a maritime corridor from Cyprus cannot compensate for the food, medicine, and other necessities on lorries immobilized in long queues on Egypt’s Sinai highway leading to the Rafah entrance to Gaza.

Instead of being joyful due to Ramadan, Gazans are fearful. Families driven from north and central Gaza fear they will never return to the rubble of their homes and neighborhood communities. The 300,000 Gazans who remain in the north receive little humanitarian aid. UN agencies warn they are experiencing famine as babies, toddlers, and elders die from starvation and dehydration.

Gazans cannot celebrate Ramadan at home or with extended families and neighbors. An estimated 1.4 million of the 2.3 million Gazans are living under the threat of Israel’s promised Rafah offensive in Rafah city and countryside and nearby al-Mawasi. The fortunate dwell in houses and flats not yet damaged or destroyed by Israeli bombing and shelling. The rest live in tents, rickety shelters, overcrowded schools, and partially damaged buildings.

The United Nations food security agency says 100 per cent of Gazans are hungry. They survive on meagre, unhealthy diets of bread and tinned tuna and beans. Gazans were malnourished when they began the taxing Ramadan fast. Since potable water is scarce, many rely for drinking on unsafe water from sea and sewage polluted wells. Thousands have fallen ill by drinking this water and risk disease and dehydration during Ramadan as they abstain from drink as well as food during the day.

Fresh fruit and vegetables normally consumed in Ramadan have been imported from Israel are available in Rafah city for those who can afford to pay high prices but are out of the reach of most displaced Gazans. Agriculture was the main economic activity in Gaza long before the war. Three quarters of the land was under cultivation with citrus as the main crop. But the strip’s agricultural sector has shrunk due to Israeli expropriation of farmland for security zones, denial of seed and fertilizer, and other interventions. Oxfam has reported that one quarter of farms and greenhouses in north Gaza have been destroyed by Israeli forces. Israeli gunboats threaten and harass Gazan fishermen who set to see and deploy their nets to provide sustenance for famished families. Israeli bombs have splintered their boats.

Among surviving markets and street vendors, Gazans might find dates to break the fast, but not sheets of apricot paste to make the drink traditional during Ramadan. Some Gazan producers and dealers in Ramadan lamps have survived and are selling them to families determined to maintain traditions. Other families have rescued Ramadan lanterns from their damaged homes and use them to illuminate tents during dark electricity-less nights.

Children’s eyes grow wide in the soft glow which warms hearts if not bodies during cold, damp nights. Some may wonder if their homes are still standing, others know their houses or flats have been reduced to rubble. Their neighbours killed, disappeared, or dispersed. This is a Ramadan like no other, a Ramadan which will shape their lives, decree their deaths, or steal the futures.

Since 100 mosques have been damaged or destroyed, the faithful gather for prayers in streets and squares cleared of debris. Wherever repeatedly displaced Gazans have settled they greet family, friends and neighbors by saying, “Ramadan Karim. Let Allah guide you and protect you this Ramadan and always.”

Few Palestinians feel protected. Today, UN registered refugees count for 70 per cent of Gaza’s population. Many regard their current desperate situation as the second Nakba but they have no option but to resist Israeli occupation, blockade, and war.

Palestine’s national poet Mahmoud Darwish wrote in 1973:

The beauty of Gaza is that our voices do not reach it.

Nothing distracts it; nothing takes its fist from the enemy’s face.

Gaza is devoted to rejection...

Hunger and rejection, thirst and rejection, displacement and

Rejection, torture and rejection, siege, and rejection death and rejection....

Photo: TNS