Suffering continues as Gazans break fast without 'joy of Ramadan'

The first day of Ramadan came and went in Gaza, with residents marking a joyless iftar against a backdrop of famine, disease and displacement as the war in the besieged territory ground on more than five months after it began.

As the Muslim world welcomed the start of the holy month on Monday, Gazans faced continued Israeli bombardments and a spiralling humanitarian crisis.

With the flow of food and other assistance slowed to a trickle, a U.N. report citing the territory's Hamas-run health ministry said 25 people have now died from malnutrition and dehydration, most of them children.

In Gaza's southern border city of Rafah, where 1.5 million people have sought refuge, the usual generous iftar meal marking the end of the day's fast was replaced by "canned food and beans", said displaced Khan Yunis resident Mohammad al-Masry.

"We didn't prepare anything. What do displaced people have?" al-Masry said.

"We don't feel the joy of Ramadan... Look at the people staying in tents in the cold."

Om Muhammad Abu Matar, also displaced from Khan Yunis, told AFP that this year, Ramadan had "the taste of blood and misery, separation and oppression".

Aid groups have been warning of the risk of famine in Gaza for weeks, and the United Nations has reported particular difficulty in accessing the territory's north for deliveries of food and other aid.

"We are running out of time," Cindy McCain, head of the World Food Programme (WFP), said Monday. "If we do not exponentially increase the size of aid going into the northern areas" of Gaza, she said, "famine is imminent".

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U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Monday for "silencing the guns" during the Muslim holy...