The Month in Pictures: October 2013

A released Palestinian prisoner is greeted upon his arrival in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 30 October. Twenty-six Palestinian prisoners were released as part of a release deal ahead of renewed negotiations. A total of 104 Palestinian prisoners, all jailed before the start of the Oslo negotiations twenty years ago, are eventually supposed to be released over the next seven months.

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Catastrophe continues to unfold for Palestinian refugees in Syria, where 29 Palestinians were reportedly killed last month, according to UN emergency reports.

More than 200 Palestinians and Syrians are missing and presumed dead after a boat carrying 450 refugees sank off the coast of Italy on 11 October. In a separate incident, 36 Palestinians were among the 360 victims after a ship sank off of the Italian island of Lampedusa on 2 October; the boat was mostly carrying Eritreans and Somalians. 

Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in the occupied West Bank during October. Two young men allegedly belonging to armed resistance groups were shot and killed during search and arrest operations in villages near Ramallah and Jenin. A 29-year-old man was shot and killed while reportedly attempting to break into a military base near Jerusalem with a bulldozer, an account disputed by his family; the man’s brother was killed in 2009 in a similar incident while driving a bulldozer, according to a UN report.

An Israeli settler was reportedly beaten to death by a Palestinian assailant in the West Bank’s northern Jordan Valley. In Jerusalem, a 20-year-old Palestinian woman was stabbed and injured by a settler and an Israeli settler was stabbed and injured by a Palestinian in the Silwan neighborhood, according to UN reporting. Israeli settlers damaged hundreds of olive trees in West Bank at the start of the annual harvest.

Israel imposed a total ban on the entry of construction materials from Gaza following the discovery of a tunnel running from Gaza into Israel. A critical shortage of fuel in Gaza caused the Gaza Power Plant to shut down on 1 November. United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator James W. Rawley stated:

“In recent years, Gaza has been running on less than half of the electricity that it needs. The shut-down of the power plant today and related fuel shortages will impact all essential services, including hospitals, clinics, sewage and water pumping stations. It will also mean that Gaza’s 1.7 million people will experience power outages of up to 16 hours per day.”

Mourners carry the body of Heweshil Abu Heweshil during his funeral in Gaza City, 1 October. Israeli soldiers shot dead Abu Heweshil near the fence along the Israel-Gaza Strip boundary the previous day.

Ashraf Amra APA images

Relatives of Younis al-Radaideh mourn over his body during his funeral in Ubiedyeh village near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, 21 October. Israeli forces shot and killed the 28-year-old man after he allegedly drove a tractor into an army base north of Jerusalem.

Issam Rimawi APA images

A Palestinian refugee who fled Syria shows his Handala necklace while waiting for a train at the station in Catania, Sicily, on his way to northern Europe on 6 October. His family, originally from Haifa, arrived to Italy a few days earlier after a five-day boat journey from Egypt via Lebanon and Jordan. Handala, the iconic character by assassinated Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali, symbolizes Palestinian refugees.

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Eritrean refugees grieve at a memorial service held in Levinsky Park in Tel Aviv on 12 October in honor of victims of a shipwreck off the Italian island of Lampedusa earlier in the month. More than 350 persons, mostly Eritreans and Somalians, perished; many Eritreans living in Israel had family members on board.

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Palestinian schoolchildren throw flowers into the port of Gaza City to remember the Palestinian migrants who drowned after a boat sank off an Italian island, 23 October.

Ashraf Amra APA images

Syrians and Palestinians who fled Syria take part in a protest in front of the Gaza City headquarters of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, to demand assistance and work, 28 October.

Mohammed Asad APA images

A Palestinian stands on the rubble of his family’s home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina after it was destroyed by Israeli forces, 30 October.

Saeed Qaq APA images

Smoke rises during a military operation by Egyptian security forces in the Egyptian city of Rafah, near the border with southern Gaza Strip, 13 October. Israeli forces discovered a secret tunnel leading from the southern Gaza Strip to the Israeli town of Kibbutz Ein HaShlosha loaded with explosives, according to an Israeli news agency.

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A Palestinian inspects the site of an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip, 28 October. A rocket fired from Gaza toward Israel was shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome interceptor while another fell into the sea, a military spokesperson said. Within hours, Israel’s air force bombed northern Gaza. There were no casualties.

Ashraf Amra APA images

Israeli soldiers place a concrete and steel barrier to segregate Palestinian pedestrians from Israeli traffic along a road in Hebron, 22 October. The road connects the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron’s old city with the nearby Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba. Israelis are allowed to drive on the road, but Palestinians are prohibited from driving there without special permission.

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A Palestinian man reads a closure notice posted by Israeli police in Jerusalem’s old city, 1 October. Israeli police temporarily closed Al-Quds University offices to prevent the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine from participating in a media conference organized to urge the Palestinian Authority to stop negotiations with Israel.

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A Palestinian woman looks through a broken window at her home after Israeli settlers attacked Jalazoun refugee camp near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 6 October.

Issam Rimawi APA images

Palestinians walk past Hebrew-language graffiti reading “Muhammad is a pig” spray-painted on a mosque in the West Bank village of Beit Iksa, 7 October. 

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A Palestinian farmer from the West Bank village of Qaryut on 20 October assesses the damage done by Israeli settlers to his olive trees the previous day. Officials from the Palestinian ministry of agriculture counted sixty damaged trees belonging to twelve different farmers.

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A Palestinian shepherd walks with his sheep in the destroyed village of Khirbet al-Makhul in the West Bank’s Jordan Valley, 9 October. Khirbet al-Makhul has been demolished twice in recent weeks by the Israeli army, which prevented the delivery of tents and aid to residents.

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Palestinian farmers reclaim a water tank on their land near the village of Burqa, north of the West Bank city of Nablus, 3 October. Eight years after Homesh settlement was evacuated, the Israeli government allowed Palestinians to return to the land they were evicted from in 1978.

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Palestinian and international activists remove a gate erected by the Israeli army blocking the road between the village of al-Walaja and the West Bank town of Beit Jala, 3 October.

Oren Ziv ActiveStills

A Palestinian woman waters flowers planted in tear gas canisters in the village of Bilin, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 2 October. The tear gas canisters were collected during years of clashes with Israeli forces.

Issam Rimawi APA images

Palestinians trade animals at a local livestock market in preparation for Eid al-Adha or “Feast of the Sacrifice” in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, 13 October. The holiday marks the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca and celebrates Abraham’s readiness to sacrifice his son to God.

Eyad Al Baba APA images

A Palestinian artist paints a mural honoring Palestinian heritage in the West Bank city of Nablus, 24 October.

Nedal Eshtayah APA images

Palestinian artist Reem Abu Ghrpyah at the opening of her painting exhibition in Jerusalem’s old city, 22 October.

Saeed Qaq APA images

A Palestinian man collects guava fruit at the start of the annual harvest season in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 1 October.

Issam Rimawi APA images

A Palestinian farmer sorts olives at an orchard during the annual harvest in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 21 October.

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A Palestinian man sells vegetables at a street market in Gaza City, 27 October.

Ashraf Amra APA images

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