With families separated or grieving over lost loved ones, Gaza’s surviving residents mournfully remember happier Ramadan celebrations
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Palestinians in Gaza say this Ramadan is shaping up to be the worst in living memory, and many fear they will not survive the holy month because of war.
Others wonder how they can possibly eat iftar meals amid famine-like conditions.
Where the streets were once full of colour, the devastation in Gaza – more than half of the strip’s roughly 400,000 buildings have been struck by bombs, according to the UN – means grey and white dust and smoke add to the sombre atmosphere.
Instead of the noise of bustling markets as people buy groceries and songs welcoming Ramadan, the thud of explosions and artillery pierces the air, racking the nerves of Gazans, many of whom have lost their homes.
About 31,000 have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its offensive in the enclave, after Hamas-led militants attacked the south of Israel and killed more than 1,200.
Some Palestinians are clinging to the hope that a ceasefire for the holy month is still possible despite stalled negotiations for a truce.
Ramadan is expected to begin on Monday.
Musa Al Shami, 48, will spend the holy month with his two sons in one of the UN schools in Jabalia camp, north of the Gaza Strip. His wife and other five children are displaced in the south of the enclave.
“Ramadan is approaching this year and we are scattered, each one in a different place,” Mr Al Shami told media.
His home in Sheikh Zayed city, in northern Gaza, was destroyed.
“We will miss the family gatherings and the lovely atmosphere that we gotten used to in previous years,” Mr Al Shami added.
He said they used to lovingly decorate the house in previous years and buy special lanterns for his daughter and young son, who used to hold and play with them joyfully.
At the beginning of the war, he decided to send his wife and young children to the south with his relatives, while his older sons stayed with him because they were afraid Israeli soldiers might arrest them at a checkpoint.
He thought they would return within a month, never imagining his family would stay away for this long and that Ramadan would come while the war continued to rage.
“Every time I remember our family gatherings in Ramadan and how they will be absent this year, it chokes me up and I wish that what we are going through is just a dream and it will end.”
Islam Ibrahim, 38, cannot help but cry each time she remembers that Ramadan is approaching, amid the war.
She refuses to leave the devastated Gaza City for the south because she wants to stay with her father, who insists on not leaving his home.
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