The UK-based Palestine Action group of protesters has sprayed the London headquarters of the Leonardo company for manufacturing weapons used by Israel. “Leonardo supply the Israeli military with Apache fighter jets and parts for their F-35 stealth bombers,” the group said.

Palestine Action had on Friday sprayed and slashed a historical painting of Arthur Balfour, the British lord who as foreign minister signed the 1917 declaration of support for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

BREAKING: Palestine Action spray Leonardo’s London HQ blood red.

Leonardo supply the Israeli military with Apache fighter jets and parts for their F-35 stealth bombers. #StopArmingIsrael pic.twitter.com/5oyjQokl55

— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) March 10, 2024

Palestinian city of Jericho names street after Aaron Bushnell

The Ministry of Health in Gaza says exhausted medical personnel in the northern Strip continue to work around the clock but are under immense physical pressure as there is nothing to eat. More than 2,000 medical personnel working in northern Gaza will begin their Ramadan without having anything to eat for suhoor or iftar, it said.

“We call on international and relief institutions to provide ready-made meals to enable medical teams to carry out their work.”

Euro-Med Monitor: Gaza’s elderly dying at rapid rates

Some of the places where ground fighting has raged in Gaza for weeks are still seeing intense battles every day, according to the latest report by the Critical Threats Project (CTP). It says Palestinian fighters fired mortars and small arms on Israeli forces in the Tal al-Hawa and Zeitoun neighbourhoods south of Gaza City in central Gaza.

The Nahal Brigade of the Israeli army continues its operations in central Gaza, while Israeli forces are still demolishing structures along the new road they are building that effectively splits the Gaza Strip into two.

In Khan Younis in the south, the Givati Brigade raided Hamas infrastructure and said it found weapons and engaged with Palestinian fighters in the area.

Hamas fighters detonated a building in the southern Gaza area with Israeli soldiers inside and targeted Israeli infantry operating in tunnels in Bani Suheila.

NEW | Northern Gaza Strip: Palestinian fighters targeted Israeli forces operating in southern Gaza City.

Southern Gaza Strip: Israeli forces continued to conduct clearing operations in northern Khan Younis. pic.twitter.com/YNlVg73mrF

— Critical Threats (@criticalthreats) March 10, 2024

Netanyahu says 13,000 Palestinian fighters killed in Gaza

Director Jonathan Glazer has addressed Israel’s war on Gaza in his acceptance speech at the 2024 Academy Awards. The British director’s Holocaust drama, The Zone of Interest, was awarded Best International Feature Film at the ceremony in Los Angeles, California on Sunday.

“Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people,” he said during his speech. “Whether the victims of October 7 in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza. All the victims of this dehumanisation. How do we resist?” he added as the audience cheered.


_{Director Jonathan Glazer poses alongside producer James Wilson with the Oscar for Best International Feature Film}

Jewish filmmaker seeks end to ‘dehumanisation’ of victims in Gaza, Israel in Oscar speech

#TheZoneofInterest wins best international feature film at the 2024 #Oscars pic.twitter.com/G3xEejQakT

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 11, 2024

Celebrities, including musicians Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell, Poor Things star Mark Ruffalo, and comedian Ramy Youssef, wore red pins at the 96th Academy Awards to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The red pins were distributed by Artists4Ceasefire, a group of celebrities and entertainment industry members who collectively signed a letter late in October asking United States President Joe Biden to demand a ceasefire as well as the safe release of captives in Gaza. The pin design shows a red glossy circle with a hand and a black heart.

“The pin symbolises collective support for an immediate and permanent cease-fire, the release of all of the hostages and for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza,” Artists4Ceasefire said in a press release.

“Compassion must prevail,” it added. The more than 380 signatories include Cate Blanchett, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez and Bradley Cooper.

“We are asking for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza,” actor and comedian Ramy Youssef told US media. “We are asking for justice and peace for the Palestinian people and also you know, a really universal message, which is let’s just stop killing the children,” he added.

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic say Israeli forces have launched attacks on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza and on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central part of the enclave. The overnight attacks come as Palestinians in Gaza prepare to observe the first fast of Ramadan.

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are now saying that at least three people have been killed and several more wounded in that bombing.

Al-Mawasi, a ‘safe zone’ in Gaza, attacked for a third time by Israel

Israeli forces have stormed the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem as well as the Nur Shams refugee camp, destroying infrastructure amid confrontations with the Palestinians. According to Palestinian news agency Wafa, the raid on Tulkarem took place with more than 25 vehicles and four bulldozers deployed in its several streets.

Wafa reported that the Israeli military vehicles continued their way towards the Nur Shams refugee camp, east of Tulkarem, where, for the second time in two days, bulldozers destroyed infrastructure in the vicinity of the Saif Abu Lebda Roundabout at the western entrance to the camp.

The Israeli army has arrested at least 25 Palestinians, including former prisoners and children, in multiple raids overnight across several cities in the occupied West Bank.

According to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, this brings the total number of Palestinians arrested since October 7 to 7,530.

The raids were concentrated in the governorates of Ramallah and el-Bireh, Qalqilya, Salfit and Bethlehem.

Qaddoura Fares, head of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, has condemned Netanyahu’s decision to provide more detention holding centres. “Netanyahu’s mind is crowded with hateful, aggressive plans, and the decision he made to equip and prepare new detention places categorically confirms his decision to continue the war against the Palestinian people for as long as possible,” Fares said in a statement.

On Sunday, Netanyahu met several of his ministers, including far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and instructed them to carry out his decision.

“This means that the series of arrests will continue in an upward curve against our defenceless people,” Fares said.

Overshadowed by Israel’s war and hunger, Palestinians in Gaza are set to experience a Ramadan like no other. Half of the enclave’s 2.3 million people are squeezed into the southern city of Rafah, with many living in plastic tents and facing severe shortages of food.

Despite the hardship, some tried to find cheer by decorating their tents with lights and lanterns.

<sub>A Palestinian child plays with a sparkler in the ruins of a destroyed building in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on the eve of Ramadan on March 10, 2024


Displaced Palestinians in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip decorate their tents with lanterns ahead of Ramadan, on March 10, 2024</sub>

Ramadan in Gaza – Overshadowed by Israel’s war and hunger

As Muslims across the world welcome Ramadan, the holy month is received differently by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. With at least 1.7 million people displaced, more than 31,000 killed, and famine in northern Gaza, families have little food or water to break their fasts with.

“This year’s Ramadan is different from previous years,” said Emad al-Najjar, a displaced Palestinian from northern Gaza. “We are far away from our loved ones, our families, relatives and friends in the north. Everything is different.”

As Israel continues to block enough aid from entering Gaza, the little food available in markets is unaffordable. “I came here to buy but I can’t find anything to buy,” Sufian al-Yazji said. “There’s nothing, no dates or milk, or anything. One can’t find anything for their children. All these canned goods are full of germs that infect the stomach. We need vegetables and fruits to feed our children because they’ve weakened and will die from hunger.”

It is a very difficult time given that if we think of the overcrowded southern parts of Gaza, mainly in Rafah, the markets are either almost depleted of basic supplies or are at a very high price. People are still grieving and the fact that their families are torn apart, with some family members remaining in the northern part facing this acute famine, just makes them less excited about this holy month.

Everyone we’ve known has lost a family member or loved one or someone they knew from their networks, which makes it very difficult for people. People used to prepare and start the first day of Ramadan with festivities, decorations, lights and lanterns in the streets, markets and mosques, the vast majority of those are now destroyed.

As we’ve been reporting, Palestinians began fasting for Ramadan with no end in sight to Israeli attacks and worsening hunger. During the Muslim holy month, families would ordinarily break the daily fast with feasts but amid the war, even where food is available, there is little beyond canned goods and the prices are too high for many.

“You don’t see anyone with joy in their eyes,” Sabah al-Hendi told AP in the southernmost city of Rafah. “Every family is sad. Every family has a martyr.”

Awni al-Kayyal, a 50-year-old displaced Palestinian in Gaza, says the beginning of Ramadan “has been sad and covered in darkness, with the taste and stench of blood everywhere”. “We do not have any food for our iftar table,” he told AFP, referring to the fast-breaking evening meal, saying that Israel does not want Gaza residents “to have any joy during Ramadan”.

Nader Abu Sharekh, an Islamic preacher, has told Al Jazeera from Rafah that “the whole world has forsaken” Gaza. “We address Muslims in every corner of the world. How can you accept seeing Gaza people suffer in this holy month,” he said. Abu Sharekh said Gaza’s residents are “forsaken, left with nothing, not even potable water”, adding that “people in the north of Gaza are forced to eat animal fodder”.

“Israel is slaughtering our people, innocent women and children … There is not a single house that is not mourning the loss of loved ones. And above all, we are starving to death,” he said. “The Gaza people are receiving Ramadan, the holy month, with grief, sadness, starvation and blood,” he concluded.

A sad Ramadan for people in Gaza amid Israel’s continued attacks

in Deir el-Balah, as Israeli bombing continues and the list of civilians being killed gets longer by the day, there is little to indicate that the festivities are on the doorstep. “This year’s Ramadan is starkly different,” said Atia Harb, 38, who had some old Ramadan decorations laid out in his market stall and was playing festive tunes, trying his best to attract customers despite the grim conditions.

“There is non-stop noise of bombs and racing ambulances.”

Families in Deir el-Balah can’t afford first Iftar meal

Many residents of Gaza fear attending Ramadan evening prayers as Israel targets mosques

Displaced Gaza residents extend well-wishes for Ramadan despite ‘deep wounds, bitter grief and heavy sorrows’

Sami Al-Arian, director of the Centre for Islamic and Global Affairs, has told Al Jazeera that it is a “very sad moment” in Gaza as Ramadan begins without a ceasefire and for many on the brink of famine.

“Unfortunately, Israel does not see the Palestinians as human beings; they say they are ‘human animals’. They do not see the human side to Palestinians – they have been violating their rights left and right,” he said.

“Even US President Biden has been trying to tell them, ‘Please stop for six weeks at least, let Ramadan be a peaceful month this time around,’ and they [Israel] continue to say no.”

Palestinians in the West Bank are taking part in a more sombre Ramadan this year, in light of the Israeli war on Gaza, shunning decorations and focusing more on prayer and religious customs, says Ahmed Sharaf, lecturer at the College of Science and Islamic Studies at An-Najah University.

“Ramadan came this year as Palestinians face economic hardships as a result of tightening Israeli closures of Palestinian cities and towns and the prevention of Palestinian workers from working inside Israel,” he told Al Jazeera.

“It also came as Palestinians in Gaza are on the verge of famine, and many are dying of malnutrition and dehydration. Muslims all over the world should do whatever they can to support them whether through providing aid or through supplication to God to lift the calamity from our people.”

Footage seems to indicate that people are not being allowed through certain entrances towards al-Aqsa Mosque inside Jerusalem’s Old City. The Old City is not being decorated this year in light of events in Gaza, and the security presence last night across Jerusalem was extremely intense with a large number of vehicles on the streets in occupied East Jerusalem.

Palestinians have been saying that they’ve been fasting for five months, it’s not something that will begin with Ramadan this year.

A lot of that optimism about a ceasefire before Ramadan came from President Biden but he’s had to walk back on that. Israel has not commented on whether its officials will be travelling to Cairo for another round of talks. And a member of Hamas I spoke to said that they have not yet been invited by the Egyptians to continue negotiations.

Mahjoob Zweiri, a professor at Qatar University, says after pressure from the US and European countries, there was a debate within the Israeli government which made the far-right security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, no longer in charge of Al-Aqsa Mosque and gave Netanyahu full responsibility.

“This happened last night after two to three weeks of discussion behind closed doors between the Americans, the Europeans and the Israelis about this particular issue because Americans have no interest in seeing the West Bank as basically another Gaza,” Zweiri told Al Jazeera. “If the Israelis do not listen to the Americans, [the] West Bank is likely to become another Gaza in a matter of months.”

He added that the security assessment that Netanyahu backed, shared by the Israeli security service Shin Bet and intelligence service Mossad, found that the more Palestinians are allowed into Al-Aqsa Mosque, the less “confrontational situation”, which was convincing in part due to the pressure from the US.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi has said restrictions imposed by Israel on Muslim worshippers’ access to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during the Muslim fasting month was pushing the situation towards an “explosion”.

In remarks on state media, Safadi said his country rejected Israel’s announced move to limit access to the holy site during Ramadan, citing security needs with war raging in Gaza. Jordan echoes the Palestinian view that such restrictions were an attack on freedom of worship, he said.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant says in a video address that his country “respects the freedom of worship at Al-Aqsa [Mosque complex] and all the holy places”.

This comes after Israel limited access to Islam’s third holiest site to Muslim worshippers during Ramadan, citing security needs with war raging in Gaza.