The Month in Pictures: May 2017
The Electronic Intifada 5 June 2017
A wounded Palestinian protester is evacuated during confrontations with Israeli occupation forces near the Gaza-Israel boundary in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 26 May. Ashraf AmraAPA images
Seven Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli soldiers, police and armed civilians during the month of May.
Fatima Hjeiji, 16, and Raed Ahmad Radaya, 15, were killed by soldiers during separate alleged stabbing attempts in the occupied West Bank which left no Israelis injured.
Muhammad al-Skaji, a 57-year-old Jordanian national of Palestinian origin, was shot dead in Jerusalem’s Old City after he stabbed a police officer who sustained moderate wounds. Muhannad Abd al-Rahman, 45, died two days after he was shot during a stabbing attack that left a police officer lightly injured in the Israeli city of Netanya.
Saba Abu Ubeid, 23, died after he was shot in the chest with a live bullet in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh during confrontations with soldiers following a march held in solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners.
Mutaz Hussein Hilal Bani Shamsa, 23, was killed when he was shot in the head by an Israeli settler during a demonstration in support of the hunger strike in Huwwara, a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank. A photographer with the Associated Press was also shot in the hand and moderately wounded.
Muhammad Majid Baker, 28, became the second Palestinian fisherman killed this year after he was shot by Israeli naval forces while sailing off the coast of Gaza.
Girl dies of injuries
Meanwhile, Fatima Taqatqa, 15, died of injuries she sustained when she was shot by soldiers during an alleged car ramming attack in the southern West Bank in March.
Twenty-six Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and armed civilians so far this year. Six Israelis, most of them soldiers, and a British national have been killed by Palestinians during the same time period.
An Israeli man who allegedly ran at a soldier while carrying a knife was killed by a civilian security guard at a checkpoint in early May; police said the man had apparently sought to commit “suicide by soldier.”
Two Palestinians in Gaza, Talat al-Shawi, 52, and Walid Qaoud, 59, died after Israel stalled on issuing them permits to travel to a hospital in Jerusalem for cancer treatment.
According to Al Mezan, a human rights group, six Palestinians in Gaza, including two children, have died so far this year as a result of Israeli movement restrictions preventing them from accessing health care.
Mazen Muhammad al-Mughrabi, 45, a former Palestinian prisoner, died in early May as a result of “medical negligence” during five years of Israeli custody, the Palestinian Authority committee on prisoners affairs told media.
Kamil Taysir Qriqi, 24, a fighter with the Palestinian faction Islamic Jihad, died in early May from wounds sustained during an accident at a “resistance post” in the Gaza Strip days earlier.
“Systematic collapse”
The International Committee of the Red Cross warned of “systemic collapse” in Gaza as worsened electricity and fuel shortages endangered “essential services including healthcare, wastewater treatment and water provision.”
Gaza’s sole power plant shut down in mid-April after exhausting its fuel supply, and the Palestinian Authority announced a cut in funding for electricity delivered to Gaza from Israel, which, if implemented, would “further extend the existing scheduled power cuts of 18-20 to over 22 hours a day,” according to the United Nations humanitarian coordination body OCHA.
“The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that at least a third of surgeries are now being postponed due to the worsening electricity crisis and the growing shortage of medical supplies,” OCHA added.
“Also, Gaza is expected to suffer a lack of necessary food items, combined with a stark rise in some food prices during the upcoming summer season, due to lack of power and/or fuel for irrigation.”
Rafah crossing, the sole point of exit and entry for the vast majority of Gaza’s two million residents, was exceptionally opened for four days for travel in one direction in May, allowing some 3,000 Palestinians to enter Gaza from Egypt. There are more than 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza registered and waiting to enter Egypt through Rafah, which has been open only 16 days so far this year.
Sixteen Palestinians were reported to have died as a result of the war in Syria; most were fighters with government-allied militias who were shot in battle. One Palestinian was killed along with his wife of two months during a coalition airstrike in the countryside of Raqqa on 15 May.
Palestinian citizens of Israel walk through the destroyed Galilee village of al-Kabri during the March of Return commemorating the 1947-1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine, known as the Nakba, on 2 May. Thousands of people participated in the march, calling for the right of return and expressing solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israel’s jail. The annual March of Return is on the same day that Israel celebrates its Independence Day. Maria ZreikActiveStills
Protesters evacuate Saba Abu Ubeid, who later died, after he was shot and injured by an Israeli sniper during a protest against the occupation and in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, 12 May. Miki KratsmanActiveStills
The Shabab Rafah football club celebrates after defeating Khadamat Rafah football club in the final match of the Gaza Cup at Yarmouk stadium, Gaza City, 12 May. Mohammed El-DalouAPA images
Palestinians mark Nakba Day, commemorating the 1947-1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Zionist forces, by marching in the West Bank city of Nablus, 14 May. Ahmad Al-BazzActiveStills
A funeral procession in Gaza City carries the body of Muhammad Majid Baker, a 28-year-old fisherman shot and fatally wounded by the Israeli navy while fishing off of Gaza’s coast, on 16 May Ashraf AmraAPA images
Israeli soldiers scuffle with Palestinian protesters blocking the main road between the West Bank city of Nablus and the Jewish settlement of Shavei Shomron during a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails, 16 May. Ayman AmeenAPA images
Representatives of various Palestinian armed factions take part in a news conference in support of prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails, Gaza City, 18 May. Ashraf AmraAPA images
Palestinians come to the aid of Mutaz Hussein Hilal Bani Shamsa, 23, who was shot and fatally wounded by an Israeli settler who opened fire on a group of protesters in Huwwara village in the northern West Bank on 18 May. The settler also shot AP photographer Majdi Eshtayya, injuring him in the hand. Ayman AmeenAPA images
Palestinian forces in Gaza City escort Ashraf Abu Leila, a 38-year-old Palestinian man convicted and sentenced to death by a military court for the March assassination of Hamas military commander Mazen al-Fuqaha at the behest of Israel, on 21 May. Two of the men were hanged and another was shot by firing squad less than a week after the trial, despite protests by Palestinian human rights groups. Ashraf AmraAPA images
Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas meets with US President Donald Trump at the presidential headquarters in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, 23 May. Thaer GanaimAPA images
Police evacuate Israeli and international Jewish activists as they block the Damascus Gate to Jerusalem’s Old City to protest against the annual Jerusalem Day “flag march,” during which right-wing Israelis celebrate the anniversary of the 1967 occupation of East Jerusalem, 24 May. JCActiveStills
Israeli soldiers forcibly remove a Palestinian elder from the Sumud Freedom Camp in Sarura on 25 May. Some 250 Palestinians, Israelis and international Jewish activists came together to establish the camp at Sarura, a West Bank village whose Palestinian residents were expelled by Israeli forces between 1980 and 1998. Ahmad Al-BazzActiveStills
Palestinians celebrate on 27 May after a deal was reached with the Israel Prison Service after hundreds of Palestinian prisoners launched an open-ended mass hunger strike in protest of prison conditions and other issues. The details of the agreement that ended the 40-day strike were not made clear, but the Israel Prison Service told media that it would reinstate twice-monthly family visits that were reduced to one visit per month last year. Ayman AmeenAPA images
Palestinians at the Gaza City seaport mark the seventh anniversary of the Mavi Marmara massacre, during which Israeli commandos stormed the vessel as it sailied in international waters and shot and fatally wounded 10 of its passengers who were aiming to break the siege of Gaza, 31 May. Ashraf AmraAPA images
Palestinians read the Quran at al-Khaldi mosque in Gaza City during Ramadan, 31 May. Ashraf AmraAPA images
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