Ramadan began Monday in the besieged and devastated Gaza Strip, with no hope of a truce in the war between Israel and Hamas, while the international community steps up efforts to deliver aid to the famine-stricken population.
Dozens of Israeli bombings targeted several regions of Palestinian territory, according to Hamas authorities, including the cities of Gaza in the north and Khan Younes and Rafah in the south.
“The start of Ramadan is covered in darkness, with the taste of blood and the stench everywhere,” Awni al-Kayyal, a 50-year-old man displaced in Rafah, told AFP.
“I woke up in my tent and started crying about our fate. Suddenly I heard explosions and bombings. I saw ambulances taking away the dead and injured,” he said, adding that his family would have “no food on the dinner table” after breaking the fast Monday evening.
“A boat loaded with aid”
Meanwhile, a ship from the Spanish NGO Open Arms loaded with 200 tonnes of food is set to leave Cyprus, the closest EU country to Gaza, for the Palestinian territory, as part of a maritime corridor announced by the European Union.
The ship is due to sail from the Mediterranean port of Larnaca, about 370 kilometers from the Gaza Strip.
On Sunday, residents flocked to the beach in southern Gaza City hoping to see him arrive. “They said that a boat loaded with aid would arrive and that people would be able to eat,” one of them, Mohammed Abou Baïd, told AFP. ” Only God knows. We won’t believe it until we see it,” he added.
But the UN, which fears widespread famine in the territory, subjected by Israel to a total siege since October 9, affirms that sending aid by sea and airdrops organized by several countries cannot replace the route earthly.
International aid, controlled by Israel, is only trickling into the Gaza Strip while the needs are immense, particularly in the north of the territory, which is very difficult to access.
This aid arrives mainly from Egypt via Rafah, a town pressed against the Egyptian border, where, according to the UN, nearly a million and a half people live in fear of a ground offensive announced by Israel. .
The war was sparked on October 7 by an unprecedented attack carried out by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza in southern Israel, which left at least 1,160 dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally. from official Israeli sources.
In retaliation, Israel promised to annihilate the Islamist movement, in power in Gaza since 2007, which it considers a terrorist organization along with the United States and the European Union. Its army launched an offensive that has so far killed 31,112 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to Hamas’ health ministry.
The bombings left 67 dead in 24 hours, the ministry announced Monday, including four people from the same family killed by a strike on their house during dawn prayers in Rafah.
The army announced that 15 Islamist fighters were killed on Sunday in its operations in central Gaza. “Targeted raids” also targeted houses used for “terrorist activities” in the Hamad neighborhood of Khan Younes.
“Immense pain”
Despite new discussions in early March in Cairo, the United States, Qatar and Egypt, the three mediator countries, did not manage to reach an agreement on a truce.
A source close to the negotiations, however, told AFP on Sunday “that there would be an acceleration of diplomatic efforts in the next 10 days.”
Hamas is demanding in particular a definitive ceasefire and a withdrawal of Israeli troops before any agreement on the release of hostages held in Gaza.
Israel is demanding that Hamas provide a precise list of hostages still alive, but the Palestinian movement has said it does not know who is “alive or dead” among them. According to Israel, 130 hostages are still in Gaza, 31 of whom are believed to have died, out of around 250 people kidnapped on October 7.
The United States fears that the situation could become “very dangerous” particularly in East Jerusalem, where the Esplanade des Mosques, the third holiest site in Islam, is located, if fighting continues during Ramadan.
American President Joe Biden, who has raised his voice in recent days towards Israel, sent a message of solidarity for the start of Ramadan.
“This year, it comes at a time of immense pain,” he said. “As Muslims gather around the world in the coming days and weeks to break their fast, the suffering of the Palestinian people will be front and center for many. It is for me,” said Joe Biden.
As custodian of two of Islam’s holiest sites, King Salman of Saudi Arabia urged the international community “to shoulder its responsibilities to end these heinous crimes and ensure the establishment of humanitarian corridors and safe help.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent “a special message of solidarity and support to all those suffering from the horrors in Gaza.” “In these difficult times, the spirit of Ramadan is a beacon of hope, a reminder of our common humanity,” he said on the social network X.