Gaza Readies For ‘Sweet’ Ramadan

As the Islamic holy month of Ramadan set to start next week, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are preparing to mark the fasting month by reviving the tradition of making Qatayef on makeshift wood-fired stoves.

In Gaza, the arrival of the holy month is not counted in days, but sensed in the aroma of this classic Palestinian dessert once again filling the markets after two years of devastating war.

In the “Garage Rafah Market” in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, which used to be crowded with shoppers before the Israeli war, a number of shop owners are trying to revive their businesses as the fasting month approaches. Among them are Qatayef makers who have returned to lighting wood stoves amid the rubble.

In the middle of widespread destruction and near areas still occupied by Israel east of the city, shop owners continue their work under difficult conditions, including shortages of fuel and gas.



Deep-rooted Ramadan tradition

With more than 20 years of experience, Salim Al-Bayouk — known as the “King of Qatayef” in the market — continues to prepare the dessert by hand despite scarce resources and the lack of basic materials.

Bayouk, 54, told Anadolu that he began the business in the city of Rafah before moving to Khan Younis after Israel occupied the city, expressing his determination to continue despite the difficult circumstances.

Qatayef is considered “the queen of Ramadan desserts” among Palestinians, distinguished by its ease of preparation and low cost. It consists of a small pancake filled with nuts, cheese, or dates, then baked and soaked in sugar syrup.

Bayouk said during Ramadan, his work primarily depends on cooking gas, requiring about 25 kg daily. However, supply shortages have forced him to rely on wood in order to continue his profession.

Since a ceasefire agreement came into effect in October, Israel has allowed limited quantities of cooking gas into Gaza, while the enclave needs 20 truckloads daily, according to local officials.

Despite shortages and rising operating costs, Palestinians insist on continuing, rejecting displacement and holding fast to Ramadan traditions they refuse to let disappear from their city.

Bayouk said he reduced the price per kilogram to 10 shekels (about $3) and provides work for 10 to 15 workers during the season, emphasizing his commitment to remain despite the damage to his shop and his reliance on makeshift repairs.

Hundreds of other Palestinians across different parts of the Gaza Strip also continue this seasonal profession among tents, narrow alleys, and crowded camps.

They set up makeshift stoves and light wood fires to compensate for gas shortages, attempting to revive a Ramadan ritual they are accustomed to despite the restrictions.


Basic dish

For his part, Saeed Khalaf, 38, said that the street where the market is located used to be packed with shoppers before the war, and it was nearly impossible to walk through due to the crowding.

“Qatayef remains a basic dish on every family’s Ramadan table,” Khalaf said, expressing hope for the restoration of normal life, and the actual implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire deal.

The ceasefire ended an Israeli offensive that began in October 2023 and lasted two years, killing over 72,000 Palestinians and wounding over 171,000 others, while destroying about 90% of Gaza’s infrastructure.

Despite the ceasefire deal, the Israeli army has continued to violate it, killing at least 591 Palestinians and injuring more than 1,578 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry

The US announced in mid-January the launch of the second phase of the agreement after delays, saying the plan includes further Israeli troop withdrawals, transitional governance arrangements for Gaza, and the start of reconstruction efforts.

By Serdar Dincel for Anadolu

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‘We Are Dying’: Cancer Patients Plead For Treatment

As World Cancer Day is marked on Wednesday, thousands of patients in Gaza face worsening illness, untreated pain and closed crossings – despite the limited opening of the vital route through Rafah this week.

“We are dying. Every day, between two and three patients die inside this hospital,” says Munther Abu Foul, a cancer patient lying on his bed in Gaza’s largest hospital. “I can’t get out of bed because of the pain. We want a solution – open the crossings.”

His words capture the reality facing thousands of cancer patients across the Strip, where access to specialist care has collapsed and evacuation for treatment abroad remains out of reach for many.

Local health organisations warn that around 11,000 patients are currently deprived of specialised or diagnostic cancer treatment inside Gaza. 

Some 4,000 patients who received medical referrals to hospitals outside the Strip have been waiting for more than two years to travel.

UN News visited Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, documenting the dire conditions inside its oncology department. Patients crowd corridors and wards, waiting for consultations or treatments that are no longer available. 

Essential medicines and equipment are in short supply, while many patients endure chronic pain that leaves them barely able to move.

Raed Abu Warda, a man in a green jacket, comforts his brother Hamid Abu Warda, a cancer patient, at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

UN News

A man takes care of his brother, a cancer patient at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

‘Every day, two or three patients die’

Mr. Abu Foul flips through his medical transfer papers, issued long ago for treatment outside Gaza. He has not been able to travel for more than two years.

“The health situation in the Gaza Strip is dilapidated,” he says. “There is no treatment or medicines, and we are dying. Every day, two to three patients die here inside this hospital. I can’t get out of bed because of the pain.”

He appeals directly for help. “We want a solution. Open the crossings properly so that God will release us from this suffering. Everyone will be held accountable.”

Nearby, Mohamed Hammou tends to his elderly mother, who is also battling cancer. He says families are forced to watch loved ones deteriorate without care.

We want a solution. Open the crossings properly so that God will release us from this suffering – Abu Foul

“This is how we stand in front of a patient who is dying, without treatment or any medical facilities that help them recover,” he says. “This does not please God and it does not satisfy people. We call on Islamic, Arab and international nations to look at the sick with mercy.”

A brother in pain

In another ward, Raed Abu Warda cares for his brother Hamid, whose cancer has worsened after long delays in treatment. What began as a small, benign illness has become a life-threatening condition.

“He has been suffering from cancer for two years,” Raed explains. “He waited all this time for the crossing to open so he could be treated outside. His pain has increased, as you can see.”

He gestures towards a wound that has opened beneath his brother’s chin. “The disease has created this wound, and his condition is getting worse every day. I stand watching my brother and mourning his condition because of the pain.”

Mundhir Abu Foul, a cancer patient in Gaza, sits on a hospital bed with his hands open, appearing to speak or gesture.

UN News

The health situation in the Gaza Strip is deteriorating for those suffering from life-threatening cancers, despite the limited opening of the Rafah crossing.

The number of patients seeking care at Gaza’s oncology departments continues to rise, even as hospitals face severe shortages of medicines, equipment and specialised staff. For newly diagnosed patients, the future is increasingly uncertain.

Evacuations far short of needs

With the limited reopening of the Rafah crossing, the World Health Organization (WHO) is supporting the evacuation of patients and their companions from Gaza, focusing on ensuring safe transport. Yet the scale of need far outstrips what is currently possible.

All we ask for is a way to live

More than 18,000 patients – including around 4,000 children – are waiting to be evacuated abroad for medical treatment, according to WHO.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported last week that Gaza’s Ministry of Health had recorded more than 1,200 patient deaths while people were waiting for medical evacuation. Around 4,000 cancer patients remain on critical waiting lists, trapped between closed crossings and a health system pushed beyond its limits.

For patients like Munther Abu Foul, time is running out. “We are dying,” he repeats. “All we ask for is a way to live.” – UN News

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268 Times: Israel Uses Ceasefire to Violate it!

Orouba Center for Research and Strategic Thinking released its weekly report on Israeli violations in Gaza. The report covers December 6–12, 2025, and highlights the continuation of large-scale, systematic attacks despite the ceasefire entering its ninth week.

During this period, the center documented 268 violations. The attacks killed 18 Palestinians, including women and children, and injured 56 others. The figures indicate Gaza remains under daily aggression, even as tensions were slightly lower than in previous weeks.

Data revealed a consistent pattern of repeated assaults. These included artillery shelling, airstrikes, direct gunfire, ground incursions, and large-scale demolition of residential buildings. Most violations targeted eastern and northern Gaza.

Gaza City, Khan Younis, and northern Gaza suffered the heaviest toll in terms of deaths, injuries, bombardment, and demolitions.

The report’s ninth-week figures show:

  • 18 killed, including women and children
     
  • 56 injured
     
  • 10 ground incursions
     
  • 43 artillery attacks
     
  • 24 demolition operations on civilian buildings
     
  • 41 direct targeting incidents
     
  • 76 shooting incidents
     
  • 268 total violations
     

The center said the daily average reached about 38 violations, showing that Trump’s ceasefire has not translated into a meaningful reduction in Israeli military activity.

Airstrikes and shelling hit residential neighborhoods in Gaza City, Khan Younis, Rafah, and Deir al-Balah, causing deaths, injuries, and widespread destruction. Israeli forces advanced in eastern Khan Younis, Deir al-Balah, and Jabalia, bulldozing homes, vandalizing property, and setting up earth mounds. Displaced families inside shelter schools faced continued siege according to the Quds News Network.

Demolition operations included the destruction of entire residential blocks and the use of booby-trapped armored vehicles in urban areas. These attacks forced further displacement and targeted civilian homes and tents of displaced families. Jabalia, Bani Suheila, and Mawasi in Rafah experienced the highest impact.

The humanitarian situation worsened after a recent winter storm. Hundreds of tents flooded, and several homes partially or fully collapsed. Israeli restrictions blocked the entry of relief and humanitarian aid, increasing the vulnerability of displaced families. Children faced the highest risk.

The report also noted ongoing injuries and deaths from unexploded Israeli ordnance scattered across residential and displacement areas.

Orouba Center concluded that the ninth week of the ceasefire shows Israel does not treat the agreement as a political or humanitarian commitment. Instead, it uses it to manage gradual aggression, maintain field pressure, and block any real path toward recovery or stability. Civilians remain under constant threat according to the Quds News Network.

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Washington ‘Asks’ Israel to Clear Mass Gaza Debris

The US has asked Israel to take responsibility for clearing the massive debris left across the Gaza Strip after over two years of its assault on the enclave, including destruction caused by airstrikes and armored bulldozers, Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported.

The newspaper, citing a senior political source, said Israel has agreed to the US request “for now,” but will begin by clearing debris in a single pilot neighborhood in Rafah. The initial project is expected to cost tens to hundreds of millions of shekels.

According to the report, Washington expects Israel to ultimately remove rubble across the entire enclave, a task that could take years and cost more than $1 billion. Arab and international actors have so far refused to finance the debris-removal effort, the paper said according to Anadolu.

Gaza is buried under about 68 million tons of debris, The Wall Street Journal reported this week, citing widespread destruction across the enclave.

The UN Development Program estimates the rubble weighs as much as 186 Empire State Buildings.

Israel’s genocidal war in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 70,300 people and injured over 171,000 since October 2023, according to Palestinian health authorities.

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In Spite of Ceasefire Israel Kills 8 People Daily

Despite a month having passed since the ceasefire took effect in the Gaza Strip, Israel continues to commit genocide against Palestinian civilians through various means. It maintains conditions that devastate the lives of more than two million Palestinians and prevent any recovery from over 25 months of humanitarian catastrophe, in the midst of persistent international silence and failure to ensure protection and accountability.

Over the past four weeks, Euro-Med Monitor has documented the continued premeditated killing of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli army. An average of eight Palestinians are killed daily under the ongoing comprehensive blockade on the Gaza Strip, alongside a policy of deliberate starvation, deprivation of basic means of survival, obstruction of reconstruction, restrictions on movement, denial of medical treatment for the wounded and sick, and the deliberate hindrance of humanitarian aid. This situation represents a continuation of the ongoing crime of genocide against the population of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army continues to violate the ceasefire daily through aerial and artillery bombardment, gunfire, and the ongoing destruction of homes and buildings, particularly in the eastern areas of Khan Yunis and Gaza City. These actions form part of a systematic approach to eroding the foundations of life in the Gaza Strip and denying its residents their most basic rights, in clear violation of international law.

    Israel is exploiting the absence of international oversight to reshape the geographical landscape of Gaza, using the ceasefire as a cover to make areas under its direct military control effectively uninhabitable, both now and in the future   

Since the ceasefire took effect on 10 October, the Israeli army has continued to kill Palestinian civilians, with 242 Palestinians killed, including 85 children, at a rate of more than eight deaths per day, and around 619 others injured, at more than 20 injuries per day. This clearly shows that Israel has not ceased its policy of killing and systematically targeting Palestinians.

In the absence of any effective international monitoring mechanism to enforce the ceasefire, Israel continues to commit violations on the ground by excluding the areas it controls, which make up over 50 per cent of the Gaza Strip, from the scope of the agreement. It has continued to carry out bombing and destruction operations even in the absence of active fighting.

Israel is exploiting the absence of international oversight to reshape the geographical landscape of Gaza, using the ceasefire as a cover to make areas under its direct military control effectively uninhabitable, both now and in the future. Euro-Med Monitor stresses that these actions are not merely violations of the agreement, but in effect transform the truce into a tool for expanding control and inflicting comprehensive, long-term destruction.

Israel continues to administer a deliberate policy of starvation in the Gaza Strip, having blocked the entry of approximately 70 per cent of the aid required under the agreement. It also controls the type of goods allowed in, systematically restricting essential food items such as meat and dairy products while flooding the markets with calorie-dense but nutrient-poor products. This maintains the population in a state of controlled, chronic hunger, without addressing its causes or severe health consequences, and without visibly displaying the acute physical signs of malnutrition.

The World Food Programme stated in a report issued on 7 November that hunger in Gaza has reached devastating levels, noting a 20 per cent increase in child malnutrition rates compared to last year, along with a shortage of routine vaccinations for one in five children due to the collapse of the health system.

Israel continues to close the Rafah crossing and block movement in both directions, restricting the movement of civilians, including the wounded and sick, and hindering the implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement.

These actions are not isolated incidents but part of a systematic pattern indicating a clear policy by the Israeli political and military leadership to use the ceasefire as a cover to continue genocide against Gaza’s residents. By maintaining a disguised military assault and perpetuating killing, starvation, and systematic destruction, Israel exploits the absence of international will to protect civilians and hold perpetrators accountable.

Euro-Med Monitor warns of a grave development: the dismantling of the Gaza Strip’s geographical unity, turning it into an isolated and uninhabitable area. This risks entrenching a permanent geographical and demographic division and pushing the population towards forced displacement as the only means of survival.

The continued silence of the international community and the failure to activate accountability mechanisms provide Israel with practical cover to continue committing genocide, albeit at a slower pace, as part of a consistent policy aimed at eliminating the Palestinian presence in the Gaza Strip.

The international community must take immediate practical steps to ensure genuine protection for Palestinian civilians, secure the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, and bring an immediate and comprehensive end to the illegal blockade. All crossings must be opened for the movement of people and goods, including the sick and wounded, under the supervision of the United Nations and its relevant agencies.

Safe, sufficient, and regular access to humanitarian aid must be guaranteed, particularly for essential items such as food, medicine, fuel, and supplies needed to restore health and basic services. It is imperative to prevent Israel from continuing to control the quantity and quality of aid or obstruct its delivery.

Euro-Med Monitor stresses the need to ensure the safe return of all forcibly displaced persons to their homes and original places of residence within the Gaza Strip and rejects any arrangements or projects that would entrench forced displacement or impose isolation zones or so-called “humanitarian zones” as substitutes for their original homes.

The deployment of an effective international mission under the United Nations is required to monitor Israeli conduct, document violations, and provide a protective presence that would help safeguard civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Euro-Med Monitor urges all states to halt the export and import of weapons and military or security equipment to and from Israel, and to suspend any military or security cooperation with it, in fulfilment of their obligation to prevent genocide and avoid contributing to war crimes or crimes against humanity.

All states and regional organisations, particularly states parties to the Genocide Convention, must take effective political, economic, and legal measures, including imposing targeted sanctions and suspending partnership and cooperation agreements with Israel, until it complies with its obligations under international law. States must also support the investigations of the International Criminal Court and implement the relevant orders of the International Court of Justice, while exercising their national jurisdictions to prosecute those involved in genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in Gaza, and ensure that such individuals are not afforded any safe haven.

Euro-Med Monitor calls for the establishment of an international mechanism for compensation and reconstruction to guarantee redress for civilian victims and the rebuilding of homes, infrastructure, and vital facilities, in a manner that does not restore Israeli control over resources, crossings, or freedom of movement.

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