©Reuters. A man sets off a homemade firework as displaced Palestinians prepare their tents for Ramadan, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on March 9 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Sal
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By Sinan Abu Mayzer. Nidal al-Mughrabi. Bassam Massud
JERUSALEM/CAIRO/RAFAH, Gaza (Reuters) – Palestinians prepared for Ramadan in a somber mood, with heightened security by Israeli police and the specter of war and famine in Gaza raising the Muslim holy month, normally a holiday, is overshadowed while talks to secure a ceasefire have stalled.
Thousands of police have been deployed in the narrow streets of the Old City of Jerusalem, where tens of thousands of faithful are expected every day in the Al Aqsa mosque complex, one of the holiest places in Islam.
The area, considered the holiest site by Jews who know it as the Temple Mount, has long been a hotbed of unrest and was one of the starting points of the latest war in 2021 between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls Gaza.
That 10-day conflict has been dwarfed by the current war, which is now in its sixth month. It all started on October 7, when thousands of Hamas fighters stormed into Israel, killing around 1,200 people, according to Israeli calculations.
Israel’s relentless campaign in Gaza has caused growing alarm around the world as the growing risk of famine threatens to add to a death toll that has already surpassed 31,000 people.
After some confusion last month, when far-right Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said he wanted restrictions on Al Aqsa believers, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the number admitted would be similar to that of ‘Last year.
“This is our mosque and we have to take care of it,” said Azzam Al-Khatib, director general of the Jerusalem Waqf, the religious foundation that oversees Al Aqsa. “We must protect the presence of Muslims in this mosque, who should be able to enter in large numbers peacefully and safely.”
Depending on lunar observations, Ramadan will begin on Monday or Tuesday this week.
But unlike previous years, the usual decorations around the Old City were not put up and there was a similar somber tone in cities in the occupied West Bank, where around 400 Palestinians have since been killed in clashes with security forces or the Jewish settlers. the beginning of the war.
“We decided this year that the Old City of Jerusalem will not be decorated as a sign of respect for the blood of our children, elders and martyrs,” said Ammar Sider, leader of the Old City community.
Police said they were working to ensure a peaceful Ramadan and had taken additional measures to crack down on what they described as inflammatory and distorted information on social networks and had arrested 20 people suspected of inciting terrorism.
“The Israeli Police will continue to take action and allow the observance of Ramadan prayers safely on the Temple Mount, maintaining security and safety in the area,” the police said in a statement.
For the rest of the Muslim world, Israel’s control of Al Aqsa has long been one of its most bitterly resented issues, and last month Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called on Palestinians to march to the mosque at the start of Ramadan.
Last year, clashes that erupted when police entered the mosque compound drew condemnation from the Arab League and Saudi Arabia, with which Israel had sought to normalize diplomatic ties, extending its push to build ties with the regional powers, including the United Arab Emirates. .
HOPE TO CEASEFIRE
Hopes of a ceasefire, which would have allowed the peaceful conduct of Ramadan and the return of at least some of the 134 Israeli hostages held in Gaza, appear to have been dashed due to the stalled talks in Cairo.
A Hamas official told Reuters the group was open to further negotiations but, as far as he was aware, no dates had been set for further meetings with mediators in Cairo.
In the ruins of Gaza itself, where half of the 2.3 million people are squeezed into the southern city of Rafah, many living under plastic tents and facing acute food shortages, the mood was equally grim.
“We have made no preparations to welcome Ramadan because we have been fasting for five months now,” said Maha, a mother of five, who would normally have filled her home with decorations and stocked her refrigerator with supplies for Ramadan’s evening celebrations. Iftar, when people stop. their fasting.
“There is no food, we only have canned food and rice, most of the food products are sold at imaginary high prices,” he said via chat app from Rafah, where he is staying with his family.
In the southern Gaza city of Al-Mawasi, Palestinian health officials said 13 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on an area of tents where thousands of displaced people were taking shelter.
There was no immediate Israeli comment.
In the West Bank, which has seen a record of violence for more than two years and a further surge following the war in Gaza, the stakes are also high, with Jenin, Tulkarem, Nablus and other volatile cities braced for further clashes.
In Israel, fears of car attacks and stabbings by Palestinians have also led to stepped-up security preparations.
For many of those who wait, there is no alternative but to hope for peace.
“Ramadan is a blessed month although this year is not like every year, but we are resolute and patient and we will welcome the month of Ramadan as usual, with decorations, songs, prayers, fasting”, said Nehad El-Jed, displaced with her family in Gaza.
“Next Ramadan, we wish for Gaza to return, we hope that all the destruction and siege in Gaza will change and everyone will return to better conditions.”