RAFAH: Several Gazans offered prayers on Monday, the first day of Ramazan, in the middle of the ruins of a mosque hit by an Israeli air strike just days ago.

Standing in rows before a prayer leader with their hands folded, the Palestinian men were entering a fasting month unlike any they had experienced before.

Many of those not attending prayers were out in the streets looking for whatever food they could find for their families living in makeshift camps across the war-ravaged territory.

“I wish the planes would bomb me and I die,” said Zaki Hussein Abu Mansur, once the proud owner of a house he had built for his family in Khan Yunis — where Israeli forces are engaged in a sweeping ground operation. “It is better to die than live this life,” the 63-year-old said.

“Sometimes we see that the things that we need are in the market but we can’t buy them.” Deprivation is normal in Gaza this Ramazan. Markets in Rafah are short on food items and few stores have qatayef, a dessert traditionally sold during Ramazan.

The bright lights and decorations that usually adorn streets during the fasting month are glaringly absent, though some stalls display Ramazan lanterns.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2024