Ramadan 2024: Palestinians prepare for Ramzan in shadow of elusive ceasefire talks in Gaza
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 began on Oct.
7 when thousands of Hamas fighters stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people, by Israeli tallies. Israel's relentless campaign in Gaza has drawn increasing alarm across the world as the growing risk of famine threatens to add to a death toll that has already passed 31,000. After some confusion last month when hard-right Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said he wanted restrictions on worshippers at Al Aqsa, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the numbers admitted would be similar to last year.
"This is our mosque and we must 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 at this mosque, who should be able to enter in big numbers peacefully and safely." Depending on lunar observations, Ramadan will begin on Monday or Tuesday of this week. But in contrast to previous years, the usual decorations around the Old City have not been put up and there was a similar sombre tone in towns across the occupied West Bank, where around 400 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with security forces, or Jewish settlers since the start of the war.
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