Charity kitchen brings hope to Palestinians during Ramadan

The unpaid chefs at the Yasser Arafat Charity Kitchen in the city of Tulkarem hope they will provide a modicum of joy to displaced Palestinians trying to mark the holy month of Ramadan.

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At a makeshift kitchen inside a city office building, volunteers rub paprika, oil and salt on slabs of chicken before arraying them on trays and slipping them into an oven.

Once the meat is done, it is divided into portions and tucked into plastic foam containers along with piles of yellow rice scooped from large steel pots.

The unpaid chefs at the Yasser Arafat Charity Kitchen in the city of Tulkarem are hoping their labours will provide a modicum of joy to displaced Palestinians trying to mark the holy month of Ramadan.

An Israeli military raid launched in the West Bank weeks ago has uprooted more than 40,000 people. Israel says it was meant to stamp out “militancy” in the occupied region, which has experienced a surge of violence since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.

The raid has been deadly and destructive, emptying out several urban refugee camps that house descendants of Palestinians who fled wars with Israel decades ago.