Palestine in Pictures: September 2022

Hafez Hureini, arrested after being attacked and having his arms broken by five armed Israeli settlers on his land, at the Ofer military court on 21 September. Hureini, from al-Tuwani village in the Masafer Yatta of the southern West Bank, was held for 10 days and released on 22 September under the condition that he not access his land for 30 days. None of the five settlers who attacked Hureini was detained.

Oren Ziv ActiveStills

Israeli forces shot and killed at least 15 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank during September.

The vast majority of the fatalities took place during Israeli raids on Palestinian communities in the territory.

On 1 September, Yazan Afaneh, 26, was shot and killed in al-Bireh, a town next to Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority in the central West Bank.

Afaneh was fatally injured during confrontations that broke out during an Israeli raid.

The following day, Israeli forces shot and killed a 19-year-old Palestinian who allegedly stabbed and injured a soldier near Beit Einun junction in Hebron, a city in the southern West Bank. The slain Palestinian’s body is being held by Israel.

On 5 September, Israeli soldiers shot and fatally injured Taher Zakarneh, 19, in Qabatiya village near Jenin in the northern West Bank.

Zakarneh’s father said soldiers opened fire on his son’s legs and then at his head while he was sitting in a military jeep with the back door open.

The father told media that his son was “impacted by the arrests and killings of his peers in Jenin and was particularly affected by the death of his close friend and classmate, Mahmoud Sanajel” in Jerusalem’s Old City in 2020.

The Israeli military said that the teen “threw a firebomb at troops from close range,” the AP news agency reported. Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian resistance faction, said that Zakarneh was one of its members.

On 6 September, Israeli occupation forces fatally shot Muhammad Sabaaneh, 29, while he was broadcasting video of a raid in Jenin to an audience of around 15,000 on the social media app TikTok.

Sabaaneh was filming the revenge demolition of a home owned by Raed Khazem, a Palestinian from Jenin refugee camp who allegedly shot and fatally injured three Israelis in Tel Aviv during April before being shot dead during an alleged shootout with police.

The following day, on 7 September, Israeli soldiers shot Younis Ghassan Tayeh, 21, in the chest during a raid, killing him, in al-Faraa refugee camp in Tubas in the northern West Bank.

And on 8 September, Israeli soldiers shot and killed Haitham Hani Muhammad Mubarak, 16, during a raid in Beitin village in the central West Bank.

The UN monitoring group OCHA said that the teen had “attempted to stab and hit an Israeli soldier with a hammer” near the Beit El checkpoint outside Ramallah.

“Israeli forces prevented an ambulance from reaching Haitham’s body. Haitham died soon after and Israeli forces confiscated his body,” according to Defense for Children International-Palestine.

Israeli commander killed

On 11 September, Hamad Mustafa Abu Jalda, a commander with the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a resistance faction associated with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party, died from injuries sustained during Israel’s revenge home demolition operation in Jenin days earlier.

Two Palestinians – Ahmad Iman Abed and Abdelrahman Abed, both 23 – were shot and fatally wounded after allegedly firing at soldiers at Jalameh checkpoint, killing the commander of an Israeli military unit, near Jenin on 14 September.

The slain Palestinians, both from Kafr Dan village near Jenin, were claimed as members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

Odai Salah, a 17-year-old from Kafr Dan, was killed when Israeli soldiers raided the village the following day to prepare to demolish homes belonging to the pair who allegedly killed the commander at Jalameh checkpoint the previous day.

Defense for Children International-Palestine, a human rights group, said that an Israeli soldier occupying a Palestinian home fired two bullets from a window, striking Odai in the head and chest. There were confrontations between the raiding military and Palestinian residents at the time.

The rights group said that the slain teen had arrived at the site of the confrontations on a motorbike “while holding a homemade gun.”

Odai was the second child fatally injured by soldiers in Kafr Dan village this year. Israeli forces and settlers have killed 31 children in the West Bank and Gaza Strip so far in 2022.

“Aim of killing him”

On 24 September, police shot and killed Muhammad Ali Hussein Awad, 36, in what Israel claimed was a car ramming attack but Palestinians said was a traffic crash near Nablus.

“Israeli police deliberately shot Awad, with the aim of killing him, after his vehicle collided with a police vehicle in a traffic accident,” the Palestinian foreign ministry said.

The family of Awad said that the teacher and father of three likely lost control of his vehicle before he was shot dead.

The following day, Israeli undercover forces shot and killed Saed al-Koni during a raid on the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

A coalition of resistance fighters dubbed the “Den of Lions” said that al-Koni was “a hero of resistance” and died during confrontations with Israeli forces.

On 28 September, Israeli forces killed four Palestinian fighters in the northern West Bank city of Jenin.

Occupation forces reportedly sought to arrest Abdelrahman Khazem and Muhammad Alawneh, who Israeli police claim had carried out shooting attacks in recent months.

Abdelrahman Khazem is the brother of Raed Fathi Khazem, who was killed in a firefight with Israeli forces hours after shooting and fatally injuring three Israelis in Tel Aviv in April.

Abdelrahman Khazem and Alawneh may have been extrajudicially executed by Israeli forces using the “pressure cooker procedure,” by which the military fires progressively more powerful weapons at a building in an effort to force those inside to surrender. If they refuse to do so, the occupation forces demolish the structure, killing everyone inside.

Ahmad Nazmi Alawneh, 25, reportedly a Palestinian Authority security officer, was injured by a bullet to the head during the same raid, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.

Mahmoud Abu Nasah, also 25, was “injured in the upper part of his body” during the raid, PCHR added.

Video shows the moment that Ahmad Alawneh was shot in the head while he appears to be aiming a gun.

Abu Nasah was reportedly a member of Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian resistance faction, and the three other slain men belonged to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed group associated with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party.

In addition to the 15 Palestinians killed in the West Bank during the month, an off-duty police officer shot and killed Muhammad Abu Jumaa in Modi’in, a city in central Israel, after the 23-year-old allegedly stabbed and injured an Israeli and pepper-sprayed several others on 22 September.

Israel refuses to release Abu Jumaa’s body to his family for burial on the basis that a funeral in the slain man’s neighborhood of al-Tur in East Jerusalem “will lead to riots in the already tense city.”

Israeli occupation forces and settlers have killed at least 135 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip so far this year. An additional five Palestinians died by indirect means during Israeli military and police operations in the same period. Seven Palestinians were killed by armed Israeli civilians and state forces within Israel, most during and after alleged attacks.

Israeli woman killed

Twenty-two people in Israel and Israelis in the West Bank have been killed by Palestinians so far this year.

Mousa Sarsour, a Palestinian from the West Bank, allegedly beat an 84-year-old Israeli woman to death in Holon, a city in Israel, on 20 September before he was found hanged in Tel Aviv the following day.

The Palestinian Authority health ministry told media that medical professionals had recently recommended that Sarsour be institutionalized due to mental instability.

Also during September, Samer Mahmoud Khalid died after being shot in the neck during an Israeli raid in Balata refugee camp in Nablus on the first day of the month.

The Palestinian health ministry said that the 25-year-old was killed by occupation forces but Israeli media reported that “Palestinian security officials had notified their Israeli counterparts that Khalid was killed by Palestinian gunfire, and not by Israeli troops,” as The Times of Israel reported.

The New Arab reported that the Palestinian Authority governor of Nablus said that after the Israeli raid, Palestinian gunmen attempted to stop an unregistered vehicle from entering the camp.

The driver of the car reportedly refused to stop and the Palestinian gunmen opened fire. The governor said that three Palestinians were arrested in connection to Khalid’s killing.

The United Nations and the US State Department encouraged Israel to investigate the death of a 7-year-old Palestinian boy who collapsed while Israeli soldiers were pursuing young children returning home from school in Tuqu village near the West Bank city of Bethlehem on 29 September.

Rayan Suleiman’s father said that his son “died on the spot from fear” while “a medical official who inspected the body told Reuters that it bore no signs of physical trauma and that the death appeared consistent with heart failure,” the news agency reported.

The boy’s father told the Palestinian Center for Human Rights that soldiers hindered him from evacuating his child to a hospital by stopping his car and pointing a rifle towards him.

A fieldworker with the human rights group said the Israeli military constantly harasses and attacks children in Tuqu on their way to and from school, including by “firing different types of bullets, teargas canisters and stun grenades … and chasing them as well as arresting some of them.”

“An Israeli military spokesman said troops were in the vicinity at the time to search for Palestinians suspected of fleeing into the village after having thrown rocks at motorists,” Reuters added.

Nablus unrest

Meanwhile, a Palestinian man was killed during confrontations between Palestinians and Palestinian Authority security forces that broke out in Nablus after the latter arrested two Hamas fighters “at Israel’s request,” according to the Tel Aviv daily Haaretz.

Firas Faris Yaish, 53, was shot in the head on 19 September during an exchange of fire between resistance fighters and PA forces. Several others were wounded, including a college student who sustained a serious injury to the abdomen.

Both Nablus and Jenin have re-emerged as centers of armed resistance to the Israeli military occupation. In recent months, Israel and the Palestinian Authority have stepped up their attacks in these areas amid concerns among Israeli leaders that they are slipping out of the occupation’s control.

Meanwhile, at least two dozen Palestinian refugees were among the nearly 100 dead after a boat full of asylum seekers headed towards Italy capsized off the coast of Syria hours after it set sail from northern Lebanon on 20 September.

Most of the Palestinians on board the capsized boat were from Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon. Two students who attended schools run by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, were among the 24 children who perished.

Meanwhile, multiple Palestinians in Gaza died after their exit permits for medical treatment were denied or delayed by Israel.

Muhammad al-Lidawi, a 32-year-old cancer patient, was denied exit permits to travel for eight different appointments at Palestinian hospitals in the West Bank. The delayed treatment resulted in a serious deterioration of his health and eventually his death on 6 September.

Another cancer patient, 67-year-old Tayseer Daoud Yousif al-Sayigh, died in Gaza on 20 September after his treatment was delayed after Israel denied him an exit visa to travel to a Palestinian hospital in Jerusalem.

Physicians for Human Rights Israel stated on 13 September that two patients in Gaza – a 10-year-old boy and a 37-year-old woman – died that week after Israel delayed their exit permits for cancer treatment.

“Both patients could only leave after we petitioned on their behalf, but it was already too late,” the human rights group stated.

Palestinians in al-Nabi Samuel north of Jerusalem protest against the visit of right-wing Israeli politician Itamar Ben-Gvir to the village, 2 September.

Ilia Yefimovich DPA

Mourners in the West Bank city of Bethlehem attend the funeral of Musa Abu Mahamid, who died as a result of alleged medical neglect in Israeli detention, 4 September. The 40-year-old was detained two months earlier while attempting to enter Jerusalem for work, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club.

Ahmad Tayem APA images

Four young Israelis — Shahar Schwartz, Nave Shabtay Levin, Einat Gerlitz and Evyatar Moshe Rubin — announce their refusal of mandatory service in the Israeli army over its repression of Palestinians as they enter the Tel Hashomer military base near Tel Aviv on 4 September.

Oren Ziv ActiveStills

Palestinians protest the murder of Nidal Agbaria at the entrance to Umm al-Fahm, a Palestinian city in Israel, on 5 September. Agbaria was shot and killed near his home in Umm al-Fahm “after a year of constant threats” from suspected crime syndicates, according to the Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz.

Oren Ziv ActiveStills

Palestinians who own houses destroyed during Israel’s attack on Gaza in 2014 protest outside UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City to demand the reconstruction of their homes, 5 September.

Ashraf Amra APA images

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh visits Addameer, a Palestinian human rights group, along with European diplomats in the West Bank city of Ramallah on 6 September. Addameer, which advocates for the rights of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, was one of several Palestinian organizations raided and sealed by Israeli forces the previous month.

Shadi Hatem APA images

A mourner attends the funeral of Muhammad Sabaana in the West Bank city of Jenin on 6 September. The 29-year-old was shot and killed by the Israeli military while he was livestreaming a home demolition raid on the social media app TikTok.

Stringer APA images

Palestinians inspect a home belonging to Raed Khazem, a Palestinian who was killed by Israeli police in April hours after fatally injuring three Israelis in Tel Aviv, after it was demolished by Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Jenin on 6 September.

Ahmed Ibrahim APA images

Palestinian farmers harvest sweet potatoes at a farm in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on 7 September.

Ashraf Amra APA images

Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands inside a truck with bulletproof glass while taking part in an election campaign event in south Tel Aviv, 7 September. The next general election in Israel will be held on 1 November and will be the first round of elections in the country since 2019.

Oren Ziv ActiveStills

Palestinian farmers work while Israeli bulldozers raze land during an incursion southeast of Khan Younis in southern Gaza on 8 September.

Ashraf Amra APA images

A Palestinian inspects his car after Jewish settlers threw stones at it in Burin village, near the West Bank city of Nablus, on 9 September.

Nasser Ishtayeh SOPA Images

Palestinians carry the body of Hamad Abu Jalda, who died the previous night from wounds sustained in an Israeli military raid the previous week, during his funeral in the West Bank city of Jenin on 11 September.

Shadi Jarar’ah APA images

Palestinians rally at Gaza City’s sea port to demand their right to access gas from a maritime field and to demand the end of the Israeli blockade on Gaza on 13 September.

Ashraf Amra APA images

A Palestinian farmer picks custard apple at a farm in Gaza City on 14 September.

Ashraf Amra APA images

Palestinian fighters in Gaza City stand in front of a banner paying tribute to two Palestinians who killed an Israeli military commander before they were shot dead at a checkpoint in the northern West Bank, 14 September. The banner was displayed during a conference marking the anniversary of Israel’s unilateral withdrawal of settlers and redeployment around the perimeter of Gaza.

Ashraf Amra APA images

Palestinians march in Kafr Dan after two Palestinians from the northern West Bank village were killed after fatally ambusing an Israeli military commander at a nearby checkpoint, 14 September.

Stringer APA images

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid meets with UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed in Jerusalem on 15 September.

Israeli Prime Minister’s Office

A picture taken on 15 September shows Rehab Kanaan, 68, a Palestinian woman who lost 54 members of her family in the massacres of Tel al-Zaatar in 1976 and Sabra and Shatila in September 1982, lights candles in Gaza City. Kanaan, a poet, was born in Lebanon of Palestinian origin. 

Abdalhay Alhouseini APA images

Palestinian protesters argue with an Israeli soldier during a demonstration against settlements in Masafer Yatta near the West Bank city of Hebron on 17 September. Israel is attempting to push out the Palestinian residents of Masafer Yatta by declaring the area a military firing zone and conducting live-fire training in the area, in addition to issuing home demolition orders.

Mamoun Wazwaz APA images

A Byzantine-era mosaic floor that was uncovered recently by a farmer in Bureij, central Gaza Strip, is seen on 18 September. The farmer said he stumbled upon it while planting an olive tree last spring and quietly excavated it over several months with his son. Experts say the discovery of the mosaic is one of Gaza’s greatest archaeological treasures, which are threatened by a lack of resources and the constant threat of Israeli violence.

Ashraf Amra APA images

Palestinians rally to demand that the United Nations support UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, outside the UN’s political offices in Gaza City on 20 September.

Ashraf Amra APA images

Debris is seen in the streets of Nablus during confrontations between Palestinian protesters and Palestinian Authority security forces on 20 September. A Palestinian man was killed during violence that erupted after Palestinian security forces arrested a Hamas member.

Shadi Jarar’ah APA images

Palestinians in Gaza City protest Palestinian Authority “security coordination” with Israel and political arrests in the West Bank following confrontations between protesters and Palestinian security forces in Nablus, 20 September.

Ashraf Amra APA images

Palestinian journalist Lama Ghosheh is brought in for a hearing at an Israeli court Jerusalem on 12 September. Ghosheh, who was arrested the previous week, was charged with voicing support for Palestinian armed struggle against Israeli colonization and occupation on social media. Ghosheh was released the following day on the condition that she not use social media or leave her home.

Oren Ziv ActiveStills

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas delivers a speech during the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York City on 23 September.

Thaer Ganaim APA images

The mother of a young Palestinian man who was among the migrants who drowned after their boat capsized off the coast of Syria displays his photo in Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, on 24 September.

Stringer DPA

Palestinians bury parts of Saed al-Koni’s body after the fighter was shot dead by Israeli soldiers during a raid in the West Bank city of Nablus on 25 September.

Shadi Jarar’ah APA images

Shops in Nablus are shuttered during a general strike declared after Israeli forces killed Saed al-Koni in the northern West Bank city, 25 September.

Shadi Jarar’ah APA images

Palestinian farmers harvest olives in Gaza City on 25 September.

Ashraf Amra APA images

Palestinians protest in solidarity with Nasser Abu Humaid, a Palestinian serving a life sentence in Israeli prison and whose health has seriously deteriorated due to cancer, in front of the International Committee of the Red Cross office’s in Gaza City, 27 September.

Salam Yasser APA images

Jewish worshippers, guarded by Israeli occupation forces, make a provocative visit to the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City on 27 September, the last day of the Rosh Hashanah holiday.

WAFA

Palestinians attend an art exhibition in Gaza City, shedding light on the impact of Israel’s siege on the lives of young people, 28 September.

Ashraf Amra APA images

Palestinians pass through an Israeli military checkpoint with an AI-controlled gun on Shuhada Street in the West Bank city of Hebron, 28 September.

Oren Ziv ActiveStills

Youths burn tires near Huwara military checkpoint near Nablus after Israeli forces killed four Palestinian fighters in the northern West Bank City, 28 September.

Stringer APA images

The classmates of 7-year-old Rayan Suleiman sit near his body during the boy’s funeral in Tuqu, a village south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, on 30 September. According to the boy’s family, Rayan had a heart attack when Israeli soldiers raided his home while they were chasing Palestinian children returning home from school.

Oren Ziv ActiveStills

 

Tags