Get Instant Loan up to ₹10 Lakh!
For Gazans, Ramadan 2025 feels ‘better than the last one’ but loss and despair looms
Israel-Hamas war: Compared to last Ramadan, Palestinians in Gaza found relief in the fragile truce— but there’s also worry and fear about what’s next as Israel halts aid trucks from entering the strip
Loss and despair marked the first day of Ramadan festivities in Gaza. For Gazans, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan was not the same festive time they used to have. Many have lost their family members and loved ones as the war between the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel continues unabated since October 2023.
Ramadan for Gaza residents started this year under a fragile ceasefire agreement that paused more than 15 months of a war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and devastated the Gaza Strip.
Compared to last Ramadan, many found relief in the truce — but there’s also worry and fear about what’s next and grief over the personal and collective losses, the raw wounds and the numerous scars left behind.
But, hours after the end of the first phase of the truce on Sunday, Israel blocked the entry of aid trucks into Gaza.
“Everything has changed,” Fatima Al-Absi, a resident of Jabaliya in Gaza, told the Associated Press on Saturday as her family observed the first day of Ramadan. “There’s no husband, no home, no proper food and no proper life," she said.
The 57-year-old grandmother said, “I’ve lost a lot...Life is difficult. May God grant us patience and strength."
Though Ramadan is still far from normal, some in the Gaza Strip said that, in some ways, it feels better than last year’s.
“We can’t predict what will happen next,” Amal Abu Sariyah, in Gaza City, said before the month’s start. “Yes, the country is destroyed and the situation is very bad, but the feeling that the shelling and the killing ... have stopped, makes you (feel) that this year is better than the last one.”
Overshadowed by war and displacement, last Ramadan was “very bad” for the Palestinian people, she said. The 2024 Ramadan in Gaza began with cease-fire talks then at a standstill, hunger worsening across the strip and no end in sight to the war.
For Muslims around the world, Ramadan is a time of fasting, prayer and reflection, and also a time to share with loved ones. But for many Palestinian evacuees in Doha, this Ramadan marks another year of separation from their family in Gaza, Al Jazeera reported.
Haya al-Barai, 16, said she will mark the Muslim holy month with her grandmother far from home. According to Al Jazeera, Haya arrived in Qatar’s capital in December 2023 after her parents were killed in Israeli air attacks. Al-Barai was also wounded in the attacks and is now a paraplegic.
“I don’t want to celebrate Ramadan here. I used to enjoy Ramadan with my family. We would eat and play games together. My family was together at that time,” Haya was quoted as saying.
According to the report, more than 1,400 Palestinians evacuated to Doha mark Ramadan away from Gaza, longing to reunite with their families.
'Temporary ceasefire during the Ramadan'
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, “Israel adopts the framework of US Presidential envoy Steve Witkoff for a temporary ceasefire during the Ramadan and Passover period.” The statement came hours after the first phase of the previously agreed ceasefire expired.
If agreed, the truce would halt fighting until the end of the Ramadan fasting period around March 31 and the Jewish Passover holiday around April 20. The truce would be conditional on Hamas releasing half of the living and dead hostages on the first day, with the remainder released at the conclusion, if an agreement is reached on a permanent ceasefire.
“On the first day of the framework, half of the living and deceased hostages will be released and upon its conclusion – if agreement is reached on a permanent ceasefire – the remaining living and deceased hostages will be released,” Netanyahu’s office said in a post on X.
The Israeli Prime Minister, however, alleged that Hamas “has repeatedly violated the agreement”, while “Israel has not been found in violation.”
“According to the agreement, Israel could return to fighting after the 42nd day if it gains the impression that the negotiations have been ineffective,” the prime minister said.
Israel blocks aid into Gaza
A six-week truce between Israel and Hamas expired on Sunday. Following this, Israel blocked the entry of aid trucks into Gaza as a standoff over the truce that has halted fighting for the past six weeks escalated.
Israel stopped the entry of all goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip on Sunday and warned of “additional consequences” if Hamas doesn't accept a new proposal to extend a fragile ceasefire.
Hamas called on Egyptian and Qatari mediators to intervene.
What Hamas said
Hamas accused Israel of trying to derail the existing ceasefire agreement and said its decision to cut off aid was “cheap extortion, a war crime and a blatant attack" on the truce, which took hold in January after more than a year of negotiations. Both sides stopped short of saying the ceasefire had ended.
According to Reuters, Hamas said it is committed to the originally agreed ceasefire that had been scheduled to move into a second phase, with negotiations aimed at a permanent end to the war, and it has rejected the idea of a temporary extension to the 42-day truce.
Hamas, an Islamist group which is on terrorism blacklists in much of the West, said it “will not back down” from demanding Phase 2 now.
“The only path to regional stability and the return of the prisoners is the full implementation of the agreement, starting with the second phase, which includes a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal, reconstruction, and the release of prisoners under a mutually agreed-upon deal,” Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi said in a statement. “This is our firm stance.”
Hamas-Israel war
The Hamas-Israel war was sparked by the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel in which Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages. Israel’s military offensive has killed over 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Vast areas of Gaza have been destroyed.
Catch all the Business News , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
Business NewsNewsWorldFor Gazans, Ramadan 2025 feels ‘better than the last one’ but loss and despair looms
First Published:2 Mar 2025, 05:52 PM IST
- Top Gainers
- Top Losers
- 52 Week High