Ramadan in Gaza begins with hunger worsening, no end to war in sight

Netanyahu said on Tuesday (AEDT) that Israel had killed “Hamas’ number four” leader and added that more targeted killings were to come.

“Three, two, and one are on the way. They are all dead men. We will reach them all,” he said.

Netanyahu was likely referencing the likely assassination of Saleh Arouri, the deputy political head of Hamas and a founder of the group’s military wing, who was killed in a blast in Beirut in January. Israel was widely believed to be behind the blast, although it did not take responsibility. The IDF said it was checking the report.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Israel and Hamas to honour the spirit of Ramadan by “silencing the guns” and releasing all the hostages.

“The eyes of the world are watching. The eyes of history are watching. We cannot look away,” he said. “We must act to avoid more preventable deaths. … Desperate civilians need action — immediate action.”

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The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostages. Hamas is still believed to be holding around 100 captives and the remains of 30 others following an exchange last year.

The war has driven around 80 per cent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people from their homes and pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of famine. Health officials say at least 25 people, mostly children, have died from malnutrition and dehydration in northern Gaza.

Israeli forces have largely sealed off the north since October, and aid groups say Israeli restrictions, ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of law and order have made it nearly impossible to safely deliver desperately needed food in much of the territory.

Israel has vowed to expand its offensive to the southern city of Rafah, where half of Gaza’s population has sought refuge, without saying where civilians would go to escape the onslaught. President Joe Biden has said an attack on Rafah would be a “red line” for him, but that the United States would continue to provide military aid to Israel.

Biden acknowledged in his annual Ramadan message that the holy month comes “at a moment of intense pain”.

“As Muslims gather around the world over the coming days and weeks to break their fast, the suffering of the Palestinian people will be front of mind for many. It is front of mind for me,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government said younger children and older adults would be the only West Bank Palestinians permitted to enter a major Jerusalem holy site for the important first Friday prayers of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan this week.

Militant groups have called on Palestinians to come to Al-Aqsa Mosque, which has often been a flashpoint of Israeli-Palestinian violence, to confront Israel over the war in Gaza.

When Ramadan began, COGAT, the Israeli defence body in charge of civilian affairs in the West Bank, had yet to announce restrictions on prayers at Al-Aqsa.

The rules announced would limit West Bank Palestinians’ access to the compound for Friday’s prayers to men over 55, women over 50 and children under 10, COGAT chief Ghassan Elian said in a post on Facebook. All Palestinians from the West Bank would also need a permit, he added, without elaborating.

Palestinians from the Israeli-occupied West Bank have been unable to visit Jerusalem under Israeli government restrictions put in place immediately after the October 7 Hamas attack.

Last Ramadan, there was no age restriction on women from the territory entering Jerusalem.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third-holiest site in Islam. Jews consider the compound the most sacred site in Judaism, the Biblical Temple Mount.

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The US and other countries have begun airdropping aid, but humanitarian groups say such efforts are costly and insufficient. The US military has also begun transporting equipment to build a sea bridge to deliver aid, but it will likely be several weeks before it is operational.

A ship belonging to Spanish aid group Open Arms was expected to make a pilot voyage to Gaza from nearby Cyprus, though it was not clear when it would depart.

The United States has provided crucial military support to Israel and shielded it from international calls for a ceasefire while urging it to do more to avoid harming civilians and facilitate humanitarian aid.

Israel blames the civilian death toll on Hamas because the militants fight in dense, residential areas and position fighters, tunnels and rocket launchers near homes, schools and mosques. The military has said it has killed 13,000 Hamas fighters, without providing evidence.

Speaking on Saturday to MSNBC, Biden said Israel had the right to respond to the October 7 attack but that Netanyahu “must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost.” He added that “you cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead.”

AP, Reuters

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