PALESTINIANS began fasting for Ramadan today as the Muslim holy month arrived with ceasefire talks at a standstill, hunger worsening across the Gaza Strip and no end in sight to Israel’s five-month war on Gaza.

Prayers were held outside amid the rubble of demolished buildings late on Sunday. 

Some people hung fairy lights and decorations in packed tent camps, and a video from a United Nations-school-turned-shelter showed children dancing and spraying foam as a man sang into a loudspeaker.