TRANSCRIPT
In an overcrowded tented camp in city of Rafah in Gaza, Fedaa Hamed and her family are marking the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is usually a time of communal joy and reflection.
This time, the acute shortages of food, gas and medications are making it hard.
"The first day of Ramadan is very tough, we don't know what are we going to cook, what are we going to have for Iftar (the meal breaking the fast), also at Suhour (the meal before the fast at dawn) we couldn’t (cook), there’s no gas, we get out of the tent in the cold to light fire and it’s really cold, how are we going to cook? Also, the prices are unimaginable, prices of the tomato and the potatoes... the prices are high, we can’t get meat or chicken, everything is very expensive. In this situation, we don’t want aid, what we want is a ceasefire."
This year, Ramadan is overshadowed by the grim reality of a conflict that has claimed more than 30,000 Palestinian lives and left vast swaths of Gaza in shambles.
Jawdat Breka shared an Iftar meal with his wife, sitting on plastic chairs among rubble.
He says the future looks grim.
"The first day of Ramadan, and thank God we have this Iftar here on the ruins; we have no homes, no furniture left for us, nothing is left for us, and we couldn’t even get anything from our homes. We came to Rafah from Khan Younis on foot."
The fighting in the last five months has driven pushed 85 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 20 people, mostly children, have died from malnutrition and dehydration in northern Gaza.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is urging Israel and Hamas to end this.
"My strongest appeal today is to honour the spirit of Ramadan by silencing the guns and removing all obstacles to ensure the delivery of lifesaving aid at the speeds and massive scale required. At the same time, and in the Ramadan spirit of compassion, I call for the immediate release of all hostages... The eyes of the world are watching. The eyes of history are watching. We cannot look away. We must act to avoid more preventable death.”
Ceasefire negotiations are continuing, although the public statements from Hamas and Israel show no change in position.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt had hoped to broker a ceasefire ahead of Ramadan that would include the release of dozens of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of a large amount of humanitarian aid, but the talks have stalled.
Israel was not involved in those talks.
In an interview with Politico and German media outlet Bild, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he plans to move ahead with plans to invade Rafah in southern Gaza, but didn't provide a timeframe.
He says entering Rafah remains an option, even as US President Joe Biden has said he would consider such a move a "red line".
"We'll go there. We're not going to leave them. You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is? That October 7th doesn't happen again. Never happens again. And to do that we have to complete the destruction of the Hamas terrorist army. We are very close to victory."
International leaders have repeated calls for a Gaza ceasefire deal to be reached.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he wants to see a new and longer ceasefire in Gaza.
"An important step now would also be a ceasefire that lasts longer, preferably during Ramadan, which has now begun and where we broke the fast together today."
Speaking at the same news conference in Berlin, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says Malaysia hasn't changed its stance: it supports Palestinians and plans to maintain ties with the political wing of Hamas.
He says he supports a two-state solution to the conflict by creating a Palestinian state separate from the state of Israel.
"We must understand the fundamental root cause of the problem - that people, their houses, their belongings, their dignity cannot be plundered and if we can't resolve it, they will resolved it. Do I than condone the killing of children and women? No I don't, by any party, by any quarters. That is consistent policy. But what I reject strongly is this narrative, this obsession, as if the entire problem begins and ends with the 7th of October. It did not begin with the 7th of October and did not end with the 7th of October."
Meanwhile the Vatican’s foreign minister has visited Jordan's capital, Amman.
Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher says there is a strong desire for the conflict to end.
"The Holy See, like many actors within the international community, would have liked to have seen significant progress on a cease-fire before the beginning of Ramadan, and many people were pushing for that. We will continue to engage with our friends in the international community in that sense, and that is our position. And you listen to what Pope Francis says very regularly in his public appearances, he's always appealing for that. And we hope that, people in the international community, particularly those most influential in this region, are listening."
Work on new ways of delivering aid into Gaza is gathering pace.
Until now, trucks have been the way aid has been delivered but that has required negotiating road access.
The UN's World Food Program says the number of trucks entering Gaza daily is 20 per cent of what it was before October 7.
Aid groups in Gaza say they expect the first ship from Cyprus to arrive with 200 tonnes of food by the weekend.
The US military says it will build a temporary floating dock on Gaza's shores within two months, as part of a multi-nation plan to provide another delivery route.
Since the start of this month, the United States has airdropped thousands of packaged meals.
The method is limited in the volume of food it can deliver - it has also resulted in deaths of five people and injuries of 10 others in Gaza when parachutes failed to deploy.
Italy has launched a "Food For Gaza" initiative with UN food agencies and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Italy's Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, says it's an important initiative that aims to stop a further deterioration towards a predicted widespread famine in two months.
"It's not sufficient to drop aid from the sky. We spoke about that. It is important to increase the number of trucks since (there is) not enough food, disorder arises because everybody is looking for food; and everyone is trying to help children who are suffering."
The executive director of the UN World Food Program, Cindy McCain, says there needs to be an urgent and large increase in aid.
"If we do not exponentially increase the size of aid going into the northern areas, famine is imminent. It is imminent. We are leaving no stone unturned in our efforts to get sufficient food aid to people in northern Gaza. Road access and the use of existing ports and crossings is the ony way to get food into Gaza at the scale that this is now required. We need 300 trucks of food entering Gaza every single day."
