Inside a makeshift kitchen located in a city office building, volunteers coat chicken slabs with paprika, oil, and salt before arranging them on trays and placing them into an oven. Once cooked, the meat is divided into portions and packed into foam containers, accompanied by generous servings of yellow rice from large steel pots.

The unpaid cooks at the Yasser Arafat Charity Kitchen in Tulkarem aim to bring a sense of relief to displaced Palestinians trying to celebrate the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, reports AP.

An Israeli military operation in the West Bank weeks ago has displaced over 40,000 people. Israel claims the raid was intended to combat militancy in the occupied region, which has seen rising violence since the onset of the Gaza war in October 2023.

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The raid has been fatal and devastating, forcing several urban refugee camps—home to descendants of Palestinians who fled wars with Israel decades ago—to be abandoned.

The displaced individuals have been informed they cannot return for at least a year. Meanwhile, many lack access to kitchens, are separated from their communities, and are struggling to break their Ramadan fast with what are usually elaborate meals.

“The situation is difficult,” said Abdullah Kamil, governor of the Tulkarem area. He mentioned that some find solace in the charity kitchen, which has expanded its usual efforts to provide daily meals for as many as 700 refugees, aiming to “meet the needs of the people, especially during the month of Ramadan.”

For Mansour Awfa, 60, the meals provide a bright spot in an otherwise grim time. He fled the Tulkarem refugee camp in early February and is uncertain when he will be able to return.

“This is the house where I was raised, where I lived, and where I spent my life,” he reflected about the camp. “I’m not allowed to go there.”

Awfa, along with his wife and four children, has been staying in a relative’s city apartment, sleeping on thin mattresses on the floor.

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“Where do we go? Where is there to go?” he questioned. “But thanks to God, we are waiting to receive meals and aid from some warm-hearted people.”