Praying in front of a destroyed mosque in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza on Friday. The Muslim holy month of Ramadan is usually a time of religious devotion, dawn-to-dusk fasting, charity, family gatherings and nightly feasts. All that seems far away this year in Gaza, now in the sixth month of an Israeli military offensive and near-total blockade. The war has erased how Palestinians here used to live and observe Ramadan. Normally in the lead-up to Ramadan, Ms. Ali would be at her home in northern Gaza preparing the house for a month of worship and festivities.

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Persons: ”, Ahmad Shbat, Mohammed Abed, Gazans, Ramadan, Shbat, Iman Ali, Ali, Ms, “ It’s, ” Ameera Harouda Organizations: Credit, Agence France, Hamas, United Nations Locations: Rafah, Gaza, Israel, mallow, Jabaliya