There is a rush among negotiators trying to reach a ceasefire on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and the exchange of hostages in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. All involved emphasize that the deadline they are working towards is the beginning of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, which this year begins on the night of next Sunday (10).
Ramadan is the most important time in the Islamic religion and occurs on a different date every year that follows the lunar calendar. During this time, believers are asked to devote themselves to reading the Koran and to abstain from earthly pleasures, especially during the day.
“It is a month full of efforts to strengthen spirituality. As an offering, you are not allowed to eat or drink water during the day,” said Mohammed Nadir, coordinator of the Arab Studies Laboratory at the Federal University of ABC (UFABC). “But it is also a time of unity and brotherhood when families come together at sunset to break the fast,” he explains.
“For the people of Gaza who are already so massacred, the ceasefire is essential so that they at least have food and drinking water. Currently, mothers are unable to feed their children,” he said.
For Sâmia Teixeira, a journalist covering Brazilian and Palestinian nationalities and communications consultant at Bar Al Janiah, which has become a Palestinian stronghold in São Paulo, the date is more symbolic for Muslims than Christmas is for Christians.
“I would say more importantly, they experience it at a much more engaged level than Christians at Christmas and much more in community than they who normally celebrate with their family. Muslims celebrate Ramadan in community. and without forgetting that they.” Christmas has already been violated. Christian Palestinians [cerca de 6%] “We were also in the spotlight last Christmas,” she recalls.
negotiations
There is disagreement over how far the negotiations in the Egyptian capital Cairo, which are taking place without the presence of Israeli negotiators, would have progressed. On the one hand, US sources say that Israel has “more or less” agreed to the terms agreed upon so far. But on the Palestinian side, Hamas representative Basem Naim said: “Netanyahu doesn’t want a deal. The ball is now in the Americans’ court.”
The proposal on the table calls for a sixweek ceasefire on the entry of humanitarian aid. The UN says almost all of Gaza's more than two million residents are starving and have no drinking water or medicine in a context where there are thousands of injured and hospitals have been bombed by Israeli artillery. Many serious operations, such as amputations, are performed without anesthesia.
One of the issues that would hinder the agreement is the fact that Hamas has not provided an updated list of Israeli hostages in its possession. In the attacks on October 7, 2023, the group captured more than 200 people and took them to Gaza.
Analysts estimate that the group's representatives abroad may have difficulty communicating with members inside Gaza. Another possibility is that the hostages were handed over to other militant groups in the Palestinian territory, such as Islamic Jihad, which is more radical than Hamas.
U.N.
Under pressure from the US to accept the ceasefire, Israel chose to again accuse the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) of involvement in the October attacks. Last Monday (4), Israel ordered the agency to hire “more than 450 terrorists.”
Phillipe Lazzarini, director of UNRWA, claims Israel has provided no evidence against its former employees. The agency said on Monday that some of its employees had been “forced into confessions under torture and illtreatment” during interrogations by Israeli authorities.
The UN launched an investigation into the matter. Hamas attacks killed more than a thousand Israelis and triggered a largescale Israeli response. The massacre that has taken place since then has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. Many describe the action as “genocide”.
As for Ramadan, negotiations in Cairo continue in secrecy and will probably never be disclosed. Whatever the outcome, there is not much reason for optimism.
“Why should they care about Ramadan after violating so many basic rights, shooting starving people, destroying mosques and the cases that shocked the world?” asks Sâmia Teixeira.
“I believe that continuing the massacre during Ramadan after the killing of so many women and children is a way of affirming the massacre on the part of Israel, the United States and all those involved in this genocide.”
Editor: Thalita Pires
