Israel deploys more police to occupied East Jerusalem on the eve of Ramadan

Palestinians are preparing for Ramadan amid heightened security measures by Israeli police and the spectre of war and hunger in Gaza overshadowing the normally festive Muslim holy month as talks to secure a ceasefire stalled.

Thousands of police have been deployed around the narrow streets of the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem, where tens of thousands of worshippers are expected every day at the Al Aqsa mosque compound, one of the holiest sites in Islam.

The deployment in East Jerusalem comes as thousands of Palestinians prepare to perform the Tarawih, special night prayers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, on Sunday.

After far-right Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said he wanted restrictions on worshippers at Al Aqsa, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the numbers admitted would be similar to last year.

'We have been fasting for five months'"

"This is our mosque and we must take care of it," said Azzam Al Khatib, director general of the Jerusalem Waqf, the religious foundation that oversees Al Aqsa.

"We must protect the presence of Muslims at this mosque, who should be able to enter in big numbers peacefully and safely."

Depending on lunar observations, Ramadan will begin on Monday or Tuesday of this week.

But in contrast to previous years, the usual decorations around the Old City have not been put up and there was a similar sombre tone in towns across the occupied West Bank, where around 400 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with security forces, or Jewish settlers since the start of the war.

"We decided this year that the Old City of Jerusalem won't be decorated out of respect for the blood of our children and the elders and the martyrs," said Ammar Sider, a community leader in the Old City.

Israel's relentless offensive in Gaza has drawn increasing alarm across the world as the growing risk of famine threatens to add to the Palestinian death toll that has already passed 31,000.

In the ruins of Gaza itself, where half the 2.3 million population is squeezed into the southern city of Rafah, many living under plastic tents and facing a severe shortage of food, the mood was correspondingly sombre.

"We made no preparations to welcome Ramadan because we have been fasting for five months now," said Maha, a mother of five, who would normally have filled her home with decorations and stocked her refrigerator with supplies for the evening Iftar celebrations when people break their fast.

"There is no food, we only have some canned food and rice, most of the food items are being sold for imaginary high prices," she said via chat app from Rafah, where she is sheltering with her family.

In the occupied West Bank, which has seen record violence for more than two years and a further surge since the war in Gaza, the stakes are also high, with volatile towns like Jenin, Tulkarm or Nablus braced for further clashes.

"Next Ramadan, we wish for Gaza to come back, hopefully all the destruction and the siege in Gaza will change, and all will come back in a better condition," said Nehad El Jed, who was displaced with her family in Gaza.