As Gaza war rages, Jerusalem offers little festivity in Ramadan

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – On the eve of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Jerusalem’s Old City bears few of its usual hallmarks of festivity.

AP reported nearly half of the grotto-shaped gift shops are sealed behind metal shutters.

The narrow streets that run toward Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site, are eerily empty.

Absent are the fairy lights and shining lanterns that would usually dangle above hurried worshippers.

Ramadan preparations in Jerusalem, the spiritual heart of the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, have been subdued because of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, now in its sixth month. With more than 30,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza and hundreds of thousands going hungry, there’s little room for expressions of joy.