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Arab News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Eid across borders: Pakistani charities mobilize to send sacrificial Eid meat to Gaza
ISLAMABAD: As Eid Al-Adha approaches, major Pakistani charities are intensifying efforts to provide sacrificial meat to Palestinians in Gaza, where hunger has reached catastrophic levels due to ongoing Israeli military operations and stringent aid restrictions. According to the World Health Organization, 93 percent of Gaza's population is currently experiencing crisis-level hunger. The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza's two million residents are at risk of famine, exacerbated by an 11-week blockade severely limiting humanitarian aid into the besieged territory. In response, Pakistani organizations including Alkhidmat Foundation, Islamic Relief, and the Minhaj Welfare Foundation have launched urgent donation campaigns under the banner of 'Qurbani for Palestine.' These drives call on the Pakistani public and the diaspora to fund Eid animal sacrifices, aiming to process and deliver meat to Palestinians facing acute food insecurity. 'We will do all the slaughtering in Egypt, and then we will freeze the meat there,' Asif Sherazi, Country Director of Islamic Relief Pakistan, told Arab News. 'Once we get a chance, we will deliver this meat into Gaza.' Sherazi said the organization planned to sacrifice 2,100 animals this Eid, targeting aid for 220,000 Palestinians. Islamic Relief, active in Palestine for 28 years, intends to utilize its local staff and volunteers for distribution once access became possible. 'We are planning to target Khan Younis, Rafah, Jabalia, Al-Nuseirat and other affected areas,' he said, naming cities in the enclave, adding that the frozen meat would be sent to Palestinian refugee camps in Egypt if entry into Gaza was not possible within six months. The urgency of such initiatives has intensified due to recent developments. On June 4, the United States vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, along with unrestricted humanitarian aid access. The resolution was supported by the other 14 council members. The US justified its decision by stating it could not back any measure that did not explicitly condemn Hamas. Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US- and Israeli-backed organization, resumed aid distribution at two sites in Rafah on June 5, after suspending operations due to deadly shootings near its facilities. On June 3, at least 27 Palestinians were killed and over 90 injured while attempting to access aid at a GHF distribution site. The United Nations and various humanitarian organizations have criticized the militarized nature of aid distribution in Gaza, emphasizing that attacks on civilians seeking food are 'unconscionable' and may constitute war crimes. In light of these challenges, Pakistani aid agencies are redoubling their efforts. Dr. Hafeez ur Rahman, president of Alkhidmat Foundation (AKF), said his organization was running its Qurbani for Palestine campaign for the second consecutive year. Last year, the initiative successfully delivered over 300,000 tins of meat to Gaza and Palestinian refugee camps in neighboring countries. 'This year, sacrifice will take place in Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and wherever feasible inside Palestine,' Rahman said. 'For Egypt, we have selected a cattle farm in Safaga city, and we have selected more than 1,000 healthy cows. They will be slaughtered over the three days of Eid.' The meat will be processed, frozen, and transported to Cairo. From there, tins will be sent into Gaza whenever the Rafah border reopened. Meanwhile, AKF also plans to distribute fresh meat to over 100,000 Palestinian refugees living in Cairo. 'The people from Pakistan and around the globe, they are contacting AKF and sending their money for the sacrifices,' Rahman added. 'We are quite sure that the number of sacrificial animals will exceed last year.' The Minhaj Welfare Foundation is also participating in the campaign, with donations collected through both its Pakistan and UK chapters. 'Our donation sacrifice is Rs22,500 per share,' said Junaid Ahmed, a foundation representative. 'So far, we have got 17 animals, which implies a total of 119 shares, and many people will join in the next few days.' Ahmad said his foundation would prefer to send the meat directly to Gaza but would distribute it among Palestinians in refugee camps if that was not possible. 'The slaughtering will be done in Lebanon,' he added, 'and then this meat will be packed in 5kg to 8kg boxes which will be distributed to refugees in Lebanon and Syria.'
ITV News
30-04-2025
- Politics
- ITV News
British Muslim women feel less safe than a year ago, poll suggests
Almost half of British Muslim women feel less safe than they did a year ago, blaming a rise in Islamophobia, according to a new poll. Research carried out by pollsters Survation found that 30% of Muslim respondents said they did not feel safe going out at night, while more than half said politicians in the UK had made them feel less welcome. Hina Khan, 27, told ITV News she regularly encounters Islamophobia online, including accusations that she supports extremism. The Londoner said the experience has made her feel unwelcome in the UK. ''I will never understand how this kind of hatred can exist in the world,'' she said. 'You have to shut yourself off from it, and build a kind of wall to separate the emotion from the facts. But even with that wall up, it still chips away at you. Over time, it makes you feel small. You start to question how safe you really are in this country — or whether you truly belong here. 'I sometimes feel loathed and unwelcome just walking through the streets of London — not because of anything I've done, but simply because of who I am – a Muslim woman.' The poll follows a warning earlier this year from Tell Mama, an organisation that monitors anti-Muslim hate, which reported that anti-Muslim hate in the UK had reached record levels. Tell Mama recorded 6,313 incidents of anti-Muslim hate in 2024, representing a 43% increase on the previous year. Of those, 5,837 were verified by the organisation. Its Director, Iman Atta, said the findings of the poll, along with Tell Mama's own data, highlighted the growing problem of Islamophobia and its influence on daily decision-making for British Muslims. 'This sense of a collective self-enforced sense of restraint of what they can do and when they can go out is troubling since it has mental and emotional impacts, as well as economic impacts that are acutely felt by British Muslim women,' Iman Atta said. More than a quarter of Muslims surveyed said they had stopped using social media entirely as a result of the abuse and harmful content they had encountered online. Experts say this been driven by changes to social media algorithms, the Southport murders last July and the Israel-Gaza conflict. Tufail Hussain, UK Director of Islamic Relief, which commissioned the poll, said that too many people were increasingly feeling emboldened to post harmful content and that more needed to be done to protect minority communities. 'Our charity has also felt the brunt of a worrying rise in Islamophobia online, and particularly across social media. People increasingly feel they can post malicious and hateful content without any consequences,' Mr Hussain said. 'Social media has become a dangerous space for false news in which organisations such as Islamic Relief, who are committed to helping and saving people's lives across the world including the UK, are instead subjected to hateful abuse. 'This survey is a wake-up call for the UK government to do everything it can do make the Muslim community safe and for tech companies to tackle hate speech and protect users online. We cannot tolerate abuse, harassment, or discrimination based on religion.' Dr Naomi Green, Assistant Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, said the findings were 'more evidence of the mainstreaming of Islamophobia'. 'Online spaces and weaponised algorithms like Musk's X/Twitter have become wastelands of abuse and misinformation towards Muslims and other vulnerable groups that is dragging our society into an ever darker space,' Dr Green said. 'Responsible digital regulation frameworks are essential to keeping our society safe both mentally and physically.'
The Guardian
02-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
US bombing of Yemen compounding dire humanitarian situation
A ramped-up US bombing campaign on Yemen has killed civilians and brought further destruction and uncertainty to the poorest country in the Middle East, compounding an already dire situation after Donald Trump cut aid, according to local people, humanitarian workers and rights groups. 'Now the rampant bombing has started, you never know which way things will go,' said Siddiq Khan, who works as a country director in Yemen for the aid charity Islamic Relief. For more than two weeks, US airstrikes have hit the Gulf country, targeting the anti-western Houthi movement, which controls most of the war-torn country. 'Hell will rain down upon you like nothing you have ever seen before,' the US president said after launching initial strikes, the first such use of US military might in the region since he retook power in January. The bombings aim to punish the Houthis for their attacks on commercial cargo traffic in Red Sea shipping lines, which the militants say are a response to Israel's killings in Gaza. Details about Trump's military campaign were exposed in public last week when a journalist was accidentally added to a private group chat with senior US officials in which they boasted about the initial operations. The US national security adviser, Mike Waltz, wrote in the Signal app group that the Houthis' 'top missile guy' had been killed after walking into his 'girlfriend's building'. He provided no information on whether the woman was also killed, or any mention of efforts to mitigate civilian harm. JD Vance, the vice-president, responded by saying 'excellent', and Waltz replied later with emojis of a clenched fist, a US flag and a blazing flame. Strikes have targeted Sana'a, Yemen's capital, as well as the port city of Hodeidah and the Houthi stronghold of Sa'ada. The targets include densely populated areas, but assessing the impact on civilians of the strikes – which are coordinated with and supported by UK armed forces – is difficult. Niku Jafarnia, a Yemen researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the Houthis had blocked off 'any and all access' to bomb sites and hospitals as part of a crackdown on civil society and the media. But she added: 'There is no question there are civilian casualties. Residential areas are being hit in the middle of the night, which is a sure-fire way to kill civilians.' The Houthi-run Saba news agency has said the US has twice bombed a cancer hospital in the country's north and accused the US of 'full-fledged war crimes by targeting civilians and civilian objects, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries in several governorates'. Independent groups have also suggested a high degree of civilian harm. In a post on X, the Yemen Data Project, which monitors attacks in the country, said that the first week of attacks had killed at least 25 civilians, including four children. About half of the strikes had hit civilian sites, including a school, a wedding hall, residential areas and Bedouin tents, it said. The group added: 'The very first US strike in Yemen under the new Trump administration, carried out on the evening of 15 March (and the subject of that Signal group chat), hit al-Jaraf in the north of the capital, killing at least 13 civilians and injuring nine.' Another monitoring group, Airwars, which tracks and analyses open-source information, has documented women and children being killed and injured. The UN says it has verified that at least two boys, aged six and eight, were killed in strikes in northern Sa'ada, with a third missing. Photos of the aftermath show destroyed residential buildings, with water tanks and shredded clothes within the rubble. A US defence official said 'battle damage assessments' were being conducted and 'do not indicate civilian casualties'. They added: 'We likely won't have any updates until after the conclusion of operations.' A decade of violence has shattered Yemen's already weak economy and left millions of people unable to find decent livelihoods to support their families. As a result, out of a population of roughly 36 million, about 19 million people require aid – 15 million of whom are women and children. Half of all children under five in Yemen are malnourished, according to Unicef. An aid plan for 2025 is only 6.5% funded so far. Khan, from Islamic Relief, said the recent bombings were adding pressure on to an aid sector that was already collapsing under other Trump measures. Two of the biggest factors have been the huge cuts to USAid and the designation of the Houthis as a 'foreign terrorist organisation', which puts aid groups working in the vast Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen at legal risk in the US. Humanitarian organisations are now scrambling to work out how to operate in the country without being in breach of US law and with much less funding, all in addition to an intense bombing campaign. 'Overall, there has been a gradual but then sharp kind of decline in humanitarian aid to Yemen,' he said. 'Obviously, many organisations are kind of downsizing and some have closed as well. 'The bombings have further scared the organisations here about whether this will be the right place to stay and work. So overall, there's a huge vacuum … taking over the humanitarian sector here,' he added. 'I see a real catastrophe coming Yemen's way.' Another aid worker, who asked to remain anonymous, said their staff were 'dealing with really, so many things at the same time, which is compounding our ability to access people right now'. The Houthis, which are backed by Iran, have already restricted access and detained aid workers over the past year, creating a climate of fear among the aid community. 'So all of this really impacts the way our staff feel comfortable and safe to provide services to the communities,' said the aid worker. 'Yet at the same time, they are very determined to provide as many services as possible to the communities.' Washington is one of several belligerent actors in Yemen, which has suffered a decade of civil war, with several states, including neighbouring Saudi Arabia, conducting bombing campaigns. The effectiveness of strikes on the Houthis, without troops on the ground, has been repeatedly questioned as the group has already managed to survive years of attacks.
USA Today
29-03-2025
- Lifestyle
- USA Today
Eid Mubarak! Eid al-Fitr 2025: When is it and how do people celebrate?
Eid Mubarak! Eid al-Fitr 2025: When is it and how do people celebrate? The joyous festival marks the end of Ramadan and brings together families and friends. The festival is celebrated around the world during the first three days of Shawwāl, set to begin this weekend. Show Caption Hide Caption What is Eid-al-Fitr and how do people celebrate it? As Ramadan comes to a close, Muslims around the world prepare for the annual celebration of Eid al-Fitr, or "the festival of breaking the fast" unbranded - Lifestyle Eid al-Fitr is the festival that marks the end of Ramadan, but what is it, and how is it celebrated? Here's what people should know about the Islamic festival that closes out a holy month of fasting and religious study. During Ramadan, the Muslim community fasts from dawn to sunset, abstaining from food, drink and sexual relations and spending time in prayer and worship. At the end of the month, when a new moon is spotted, Muslims celebrate with Eid al-Fitr. The festival is celebrated around the world during the first three days of Shawwāl, which is expected to begin on the weekend of March 29 in 2025. What is Eid al-Fitr? Eid al-Fitr is the Muslim festival that marks the end of Ramadan, according to Britannica. It is celebrated with an Eid namaz (morning prayer), visits to friends, gift-giving, charity and food. People also wear new clothes during the holiday festival and visit the graves of deceased loved ones. When does Ramadan end? When is Eid al-Fitr? Eid al-Fitr 2025 is expected to be celebrated onSunday, March 30, or Monday, March 31, depending on when the new crescent moon is sighted, according to UK-based Islamic charity organization, Islamic Relief. The festival is celebrated over the first three days of Shawwāl, the 10th month of the Islamic calendar. Unlike Christmas, Eid does not fall on the same date every year. Muslim festivals and events, like Ramadan, follow the Islamic Hijri calendar, which is dependent on a lunar cycle. Each year, Ramadan and both Eid holidays fall about 11 days earlier than the year before because of the lunar cycle. The sighting of the crescent moon determines the start of these holidays. What is Shawwāl? When is it? Shawwāl, the Islamic month that succeeds Ramadan, begins right at the sighting of the crescent moon, or "Shawwāl moon." The first day of Shawwāl brings Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan. It is expected to fall on March 30 or March 31 this year. Celebration could last 3 days Eid al-Fitr is the first of two celebratory days in the Islamic calendar, both observed every year. Though the holiday is marked on one day, some will celebrate this festival for as long as three days. When is Eid al-Adha, the second Eid in the Islamic calendar? The second Eid, Eid al-Adha, will fall on the 10th day in the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah, which is predicted to fall on the evening of June 6, and end on the night of June 7. Who celebrates Eid al-Fitr? Muslims around the world celebrate the festival. How do you wish someone a happy Eid? Muslims will hug their friends and family and greet them with 'Eid Mubarak,' meaning 'blessed festival' in Arabic. Contributing: Saman Shafiq, USA TODAY
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
NYC Public Schools closed Monday for Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr
NEW YORK (PIX11) — New York City Public School students will enjoy a long weekend in observance of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr. The special occasion marks the end of the month of Ramadan and will be celebrated on either Sunday or Monday, depending on the sighting of the moon. New York City Public Schools will be closed on Monday in observation. More Local News Eid al-Fitr was added to the NYC Public School calendar in 2016 under the de Blasio administration, along with the later holiday of Eid al-Adha, that is celebrated in June. The Arabic phrase Eid al-Fitr translates to 'the festival of breaking the fast,' as it marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, according to the Muslim charity organization called Islamic Relief. More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State Eid al-Fitr is characterized as a time to show increased worship and devotion as well as visit loved ones, share gifts and food, and pray. In observation of Eid al-Fitr many Muslims will celebrate by taking a different route to and from Eid prayer, praying in congregation, wearing their best clothes, sharing gifts, and engaging in deep personal prayer and worship. Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
