Palestine in Pictures: May 2020

A Palestinian farmer harvests wheat at a field adjacent to the boundary with Israel, Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 20 May.

Ashraf Amra APA images

Four Palestinians, including a child, were shot and killed by Israeli occupation forces during May.

Zaid Fadil Qaisiya, 17, was shot in the head and killed during a raid on al-Fawwar refugee camp near the West Bank city of Hebron on 13 May. When he was injured, the teen was standing on a rooftop watching confrontations that broke out after Israeli forces disguised as Palestinian civilians raided the camp.

Another boy, 16, was shot in the thigh during the raid, breaking his leg.

The following day, occupation forces shot and killed Baha Awawda near Hebron during what Israel says was a car-ramming attack in which a soldier was injured.

Another Palestinian motorist, Fadi Samara Qaad, was killed by soldiers who said that the man accelerated toward them in the central West Bank on 29 May. No Israeli soldiers were injured and Qaad’s family said the 37-year-old was on his way to pick up his wife and was not attempting any attack when he was killed.

Several Palestinians have been killed in recent years in what Israel claimed were car-ramming attacks, only to be contradicted by human rights groups that investigated the incidents.

On 30 May, Israeli forces killed Iyad Hallaq, a 32-year-old Palestinian with autism, near a special education institute that he attended in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Israeli forces claimed they suspected Hallaq of carrying a “suspicious object” when they chased him and gunned him down, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

Palestinian killed outside hospital

In addition to the four Palestinians killed by Israeli state forces, a Palestinian citizen of Israel was killed by private security guards outside a hospital near Tel Aviv on 13 May.

Video of the incident shows a man lying on the ground who appears to stab another man in plain clothes who has pinned him down. At that point, three additional men open fire several times at close range.

The slain man was identified as Mustafa Mahmoud Younis, 26. His father told media that Younis was at the hospital for a psychotherapy session and was undergoing treatment for epilepsy.

The fatal shooting of Younis came a week after police killed Salama Abu Kaf in southern Israel after the man allegedly attempted to steal a car.

The slain man’s family said that Abu Kaf “was killed in cold blood because he’s an Arab.”

An Israeli soldier died after a rock was dropped on his head during a raid on a town in the northern West Bank on 12 May, the sole Israeli fatality so far this year.

Coronavirus

Meanwhile, the Gaza Strip recorded its first – and so far only – death from the coronavirus during May.

Fadila Muhammad Abu Raida, 77, died while in isolation at a field hospital on the Rafah crossing at Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.

At the beginning of June, there were more than 600 confirmed cases in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Of those cases, more than 500 patients had recovered.

Four patients in the West Bank have died from the coronavirus.

Palestinian farmers examine olive trees cut down by suspected Israeli settlers in al-Sawiya village, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, on 2 May. The farmers were prevented from tending to their land by Israeli soldiers who declared it a closed military zone.

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A Palestinian harvests melons in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on 2 May.

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Palestinian vendors prepare qatayef, a traditional pancake that is popular during Ramadan, Gaza City, 4 May.

Mahmoud Ajjour APA images

Members of a traditional Palestinian music ensemble perform via live broadcast amid coronavirus restrictions during Ramadan, Gaza City, 7 May.

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Palestinians wear protective face masks while shopping in the West Bank city of Nablus during Ramadan, 9 May.

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Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in Gaza, attends the funeral of Hamas leader Ahmad Al-Kurd in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, on 10 May.

Ashraf Amra APA images

A home belonging to the family of Qassam al-Barghouthi after the top floor was destroyed by Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank village of Kobar on 11 May. Al-Barghouthi is accused of involvement in an explosion that killed an Israeli teen near the Jewish settlement of Dolev, northwest of the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, last August.

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Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus protest against Israel’s US-backed plan to annex large swathes of the territory, 14 May.

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Anti-Netanyahu protesters, including Druze demonstrating against the Nation-State law, protest outside the Israeli parliament on the day the new government was due to have its first meeting, Jerusalem, 14 May.

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Palestinians prepare traditional cookies ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan, Rafah, southern of Gaza Strip, on 16 May.

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Alaa and Tasneem al-Batat, who recovered from COVID-19, hold their newborn baby Tayem inside their home in al-Dahriya village, south of the West Bank City of Hebron, on 17 May. The parents were being treated for the coronavirus when the mother was rushed to give birth.

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Palestinian citizens of Israel protest the killing of Mustafa Younis, 26, who was shot to death while he lay unarmed on the ground following a confrontation with Israeli security guards, Tel Hashomer hospital, near Tel Aviv, 18 May.

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Hundreds of Israelis take part in the Jerusalem Day march, an annual celebration of Israel’s seizure of the entire city. Due to the pandemic, police prevented the march from passing through Palestinian neighborhoods as usual. 

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Dr. Abdul Jalil prays as Samira the cat sits on his lap at one of the gates of the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City on 21 May.

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Palestinians perform Eid al-Fitr prayers marking the end of Ramadan in the northern Gaza Strip on 23 May.

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A Gaza City market ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan, 23 May.

Mahmoud Ajjour APA images

Palestinians perform Eid al-Fitr prayers in the northern Gaza Strip on 24 May.

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Palestinians visit the graves of their relatives at a cemetery during the first day of Eid al-Fitr, Gaza City, on 24 May.

Mahmoud Ajjour APA images

On 31 May, Israeli activists demonstrate in front of the home of Amir Ohana, the Israel minister of public security, to protest against the killing of Iyad Hallaq, a Palestinian man with autism who was shot by Israeli forces in Jerusalem the previous day.

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Palestinians mourn during the Jerusalem funeral of Iyad Hallaq on 31 May. The 32-year-old man with autism was shot dead the previous dead by Israeli forces in Jerusalem’s Old City over suspicion of carrying a gun. At least seven shots were fired but no weapon was found at the scene.

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