MAWASI — At 7:39 a.m. on Monday, the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Mohamed Farahat, known as Abu Mujahid went to the UNRWA headquarters in search of a medical mattress to sleep on in his tent.
“I swear to God, I’m sick and my body is tired and broken from sleeping on the floor,” he said.
For the latest news & views from every corner of the world, Worldcrunch Today is the only truly international newsletter. Sign up here.
After spending more than four hours at the UN agency, Abu Mujahid again returned to his tent empty handed. He made the 3 km (1.8 miles) trip back in a donkey cart, which has become the most common form of transportation in Gaza due to fuel shortages since the war began.
Since the Israel-Hamas war began, 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced, with more than half crammed into the far south, around Rafah, where many live in tents or schools that have been turned into shelters.
Israel sealed off Gaza, barring the entry of humanitarian aid including food and fuel in the first weeks of the war, before allowing some aid to enter under strong international pressure. Amid these dire food shortages, UN agencies have warned about a looming famine. More than half a million Palestinians in the strip are facing famine-like conditions, according to the UN, which called for scaling up aid delivery to Gaza.
With the war now in its sixth month, Palestinian have begun fasting for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Al-Manassa spent the first day of Ramadan with Abu Mujahid and his family.
Displaced and detained
Their home east of Khan Yunis, Gaza’s second largest city, was destroyed, and the family has been displaced several times before arriving at Mawasi area, west of the city. Their exodus journey began at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. When the Israeli army besieged the hospital, they were forced to flee again through military corridors and checkpoints.
Mujahid’s place on the Ramadan table is empty.
Along the way, a month ago, the family’s eldest son, Mujahid, was detained and taken to an unknown location. The family has attempted to contact international groups to learn the whereabouts and fate of their son.
Mujahid’s place on the Ramadan table is empty, which is no longer the same as before, Abu Mujahid said in a somber tone.
Ramadan disrupted
That morning, Abu Mujahid’s wife, Umm Mujahid, had also left their tent early; while Abu Mujahid was at UNRWA headquarters, she was on her way to the city of Rafah to try to obtain her detained son’s salary from the bank. But her efforts also failed, and she did not find any cash available.
On her way back from Rafah, Umm Mujahid stopped to visit some relatives, so Abu Mujahid returned to the tent to find his three daughters, Iman, 22, Israa, 19, and Malak, 17, chatting with their neighbors about preparing Ramadan Iftar, the fast-breaking evening meal. Then they spent the rest of the day reading the Quran, and cleaning and tidying the tent.
This year, we haven’t prepared anything.
Malak said she never thought her family would be displaced and spend Ramadan in a tent, so she did not buy a Ramadan lantern or other decorations this year.
“Every year we used to buy lanterns and decorative ropes, decorate the house inside and outside, buy a special dining tablecloth for Ramadan,” Malak recalled, adding, “but this year, we haven’t prepared anything.”
Separated families during the Holy Month
Umm Mujahid stopped at the market, about a kilometer from the family tent, to buy some mulukhiyah, jute mallow, to cook on the first day of Ramdan, as she has in recent years. But she found that the price had skyrocketed to about per kg (2.2 lbs), compared to less than .5 per kg before the war — an example of the soaring prices and food shortages Palesinians have been experiencing since the war began. Humanitarian aid has severely dwindled amid Israeli restrictions on aid deliveries. In the end, Umm bought 1 kg each of tomatoes, cucumbers and eggplants.
Back in the family tent, the family discussed how they would break the fast, as their cooking gas cylinder had been sent to be refilled and not yet returned. What could be cooked on a wood fire? Luckily, the refilled gas cylinder arrived in time.
At around 3 p.m. Malak and Iman made samosa dough, which before the war the family would buy ready-made at the market, and prepared a vegetable salad. Umm prepared some potatoes to fry before the Maghrib sunset prayer, which marks the end of the fast and is the start of the iftar. Israa devoted herself to reading the Quran.
For his part, Abu Mujahid left the tent, telling his family that he was going to the market to buy some necessities. But he was trying to distract himself from the fact that his son was not with them on the first day of Ramadan.
“I miss my son Mujahid very much today. But I can’t talk about him; I don’t want to upset my family. I want us to be united again and be happy,” Abu Mujahid said on the way to the market. He was concerned about his son amid reports of violence and mistreatment of detainees by Israel, including recent CNN footage showing Palestinian detainees blindfolded, near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Explosions at iftar
At the market, Abu Mujahid bought a kilogram of kebab for more than , some vegetables including arugula and green onions, 500 grams of qatayef pastries, and a stuffing of coconut, cinnamon, raisins and pistachios, saying “My daughters like it.”
He returned to the tent 20 minutes ahead of the sunset prayer, and handed his purchases to his wife and daughters, who had laid out a simple iftar table on the tent floor.
“I swear, I want you to be happy and eat,” he said to his family, who was joyful and surprised; they hadn’t expected these items for the first Ramadan Iftar, and they thanked Abu Mujahid.
Praise be to God, today went well.
“May God help you and the people in the current situation. Praise be to God, we have found something to eat and drink,” Malak said.
The family gathered around the table in the center of the tent and waited for the sunset call to prayer before breaking their fast in silence. As they ate their iftar, the silence was broken by the sound of explosions nearby. Abu Mujahid tried to reassure them. “May God protect us,” the mother says. The three sisters cleared the table and washed the dishes, using a gallon of the water intended for washing up. They worked together, took turns saying the evening prayer, and then prepared the coffee and qatayef.
Abu Mujahid reflected on this first day of Ramadan, different for his family in almost every detail: the tent far from their destroyed home; the daily burdens and tasks; purchasing necessities after they lost electricity; the table around which they gathered. Yet for Abu Mujahid, the most important aspect was that the first day of Ramadan was peaceful.
“Praise be to God, today went well,” he said. But he remained preoccupied by his detained son. “The whole time, I was thinking about whether Mujahid ate and drank, about how he is,” he said. Umm prayed: “May God bring you back well and reassure my heart.”
