AP PHOTOS: Muslims around the world observe holy month of Ramadan with prayer, fasting

Muslims around the world are observing the holy month of Ramadan, with worship, charity, dawn-to-dusk fasting and nightly feasts.

Muslims gather for prayers inside mosques in Indonesia, Kashmir, Pakistan and Turkey. They gather outside at New York’s Times Square and in the Gaza Strip.

Messages recognizing Ramadan light the sky in Turkey and Germany.

Volunteers distribute food to people breaking their fast in Pakistan. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Muslims eat a sunset meal at a mosque.

In Rafah in southern Gaza, Palestinians buy food for a pre-dawn meal. Ramadan this year comes as the Middle East remains inflamed by the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, and many in the enclave are going hungry. Even where food is available, there is little beyond canned goods, and prices are high.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar and begins with the sighting of the crescent moon.

For many of the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims, fasting began Monday, after an announcement from officials in Saudi Arabia, which is home to the holiest places in Islam.

Muslim communities may start Ramadan on different days, due to declarations by multiple Islamic authorities around the globe on whether the crescent has been sighted or different methodologies used to determine the start of the month.