Gaza laments deadly start to Ramadan amid funerals and debris

After two sleepless days and nights of Israeli shelling and Palestinian rocket fire, Gazans on Monday faced a first day of Ramadan overshadowed by funerals and the grim task of pulling bodies from collapsed buildings. As dawn brought a ceasefire of uncertain duration, few Palestinians in the impoverished coastal enclave were focusing on the sundown feast that is traditionally the highlight of the day during the Muslim holy month. At Gaza City's largest hospital, Shifa, relatives of the 21 Palestinians killed on Sunday - including 12 civilians - arrived to collect bodies for burial and prayers. Outside, workers set about rebuilding power and phone lines devastated by the Israeli bombardment, which also razed entire tower blocks, leaving rubble strewn across the ground. Other government employees lined up at banks to draw out money they had been unable to collect during the hostilities. In the Sheikh Zayed neighbourhood of northern Gaza, residents were in shock a day after an Israeli air strike killed six people. The four apartments wrecked in the five-storey building were among 600 housing units left destroyed or damaged, according to the Ministry of Housing. 'I have never seen in my life more horrifying images than I saw yesterday. I saw dismembered bodies, burnt up bodies,' said 60-year-old Ziyad Hammash, who lives in the building across the street. Sumayya Usruf, whose cousin, husband and four-month infant child were killed in an apartment in the northern Gaza Strip, said: 'This is a very tough Ramadan. We will not feel festive.' As she spoke, dozens of men brought the body of the baby home for farewell. Inside the ambulance was a coffin filled with flesh and body parts. 'This round is over but I am afraid another will soon begin. We aspire to a day when nothing of this will happen,' said 55-year-old Adel Mohammad-Ali at one funeral.