The Electronic Intifada 6 May 2014
Men queue for food parcels within an aid distribution area in Yarmouk camp near Damascus on 24 April. As news of the distribution spread, hundreds of desperate civilians gathered in the area on subsequent days.
unrwa.orgTwo Palestinian refugee children were killed in Syria in April, the United Nations reported. Eleven-year-old Qusay Shuraieh died of his injuries on 22 April four days after a car bomb exploded near a mosque in Homs. Eight other Palestinian refugee children were injured in the explosion.
On 22 April, 11-year-old Malek Turani was instantly killed by shrapnel from an explosion while walking home from school in Deraa. Another child, seven-year-old Nureiddin al-Khalili, was killed by a stray bullet while walking home from school in Homs on 10 March.
Meanwhile the UN reported that food distribution operations in Yarmouk camp, where 18,000 “desperate” civilians are trapped, were suspended during much of April. UN humanitarian agencies warned on 23 April that humanitarian access is “being denied by all sides” and that 1.25 million people in and around Aleppo were in need of food.
In the occupied Gaza Strip, Rafah crossing — the sole entry and exit point for the vast majority of Gaza’s nearly 1.7 million residents — remained closed for much of the month. On 29 and 30 April, Egypt opened the crossing for students, patients and foreign passport and visa holders, and re-closed it on 1 May.
The crossing had opened on only 11 days for persons in those categories; in April, a total of approximately “4,500 people (mainly pilgrims to Mecca) were allowed to cross in both directions, compared to around 56,000 people in June 2013, before the reduced operation of the crossing,” the UN reported.
Three Palestinians were killed in an explosion inside a military training site east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza on 16 April and 13 Palestinian civilians, including five children, were injured in Israeli airstrikes recorded by the UN between 21 and 23 April.
Israeli airstrikes following Palestinian rocket fire towards Israel injured a four-month-old infant on 4 April. No Israeli casualties or property damage were caused by Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza and “several rockets exploded at the launching site or fell short and landed in Gaza,” one resulting in the injury of a Palestinian civilian, according to the UN.
In the occupied West Bank, a 44-year-old Palestinian woman from Aida refugee camp died on 13 April after reportedly suffering and being treated for tear gas inhalation two days earlier. The Israeli media reportedly denied that tear gas inhalation was the cause of her death, the UN reported. On 14 April an Israeli settler was killed and his wife and a child were injured when Israeli cars were fired upon near Idhna village in the Hebron area, the first such fatality this year.
A family member makes a temporary inscription at the tomb of Noha Katamish until a permanent grave marker can be placed in the cemetery of Aida refugee camp, West Bank, 15 April. Katamish, who had asthma, died after a tear gas grenade was fired into her home the previous day. She was buried next to the grave of Saleh al-Amareen, who was 15 when he was shot in the head and killed by Israeli forces in Aida refugee camp in January 2013.
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Mourners in the West Bank city of Ramallah wave the green flag of the Islamist political movement Hamas as they attend the 30 April funeral of two Hamas members, Adel and Imad Awadallah, who were killed in 1998. Israel returned the remains of four Palestinians to their families that day.
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Palestinians hold pictures of Palestinian prisoners during a rally marking Palestinian Prisoners’ Day in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, 17 April. Israel currently holds more than 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners.
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Israeli police prevent Palestinians from entering the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City on 14 April. Days earlier Israeli police stormed al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem; police fired tear gas and stun grenades at worshipers, guards and employees of the Islamic Waqf of al-Aqsa Mosque and beat them up.
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Palestinians celebrate the release of protesters detained by Israeli police during recent clashes at the al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem, 27 April. Israeli police arrested 16 Palestinians the previous week during clashes at the holy site.
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Leaders of the Hamas movement and members of the Palestine Liberation Organization delegation attend a reconciliation meeting in Gaza City on 23 April. Rival Palestinian leaders from the West Bank and Gaza Strip agreed to form a unity government within five weeks as peace talks with Israel collapse.
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Palestinian doctors treat a wounded child at a hospital following an airstrike by Israeli warplanes in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, 23 April. The raid came as thousands took to the streets of Gaza City to celebrate the announcement by Hamas and the Palestine Liberation Organization of an agreement to form a unity government to end seven years of divided administration.
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A Palestinian boy inspects a burned car following an overnight Israeli air strike on Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip, 4 April. After Israel called off the planned release of 26 Palestinian prisoners the day before, Palestinians in Gaza fired four rockets into southern Israel, prompting retaliatory air strikes.
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Palestinians inspect the scene of an Israeli airstrike in the central Gaza Strip, 21 April. Seven rockets fired from Gaza landed in southern Israel during the Jewish Passover holiday, drawing retaliatory air strikes from the Israeli army, officials said, the first such confrontation in several weeks. Israel said its strikes hit two training camps run by Hamas.
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Mourners gather around the bodies of two of three Hamas fighters who were killed in an explosion, during their funeral in al-Nusairat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, 16 April. Witnesses said the blast took place at a training camp belonging to Hamas’ armed wing east of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, but it was unclear what caused the explosion.
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Palestinian security forces demonstrate their skills at a scene simulating a break-in to an Israeli army post during a graduation ceremony in Gaza City, 17 April.
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Backdropped by the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, a Palestinian man stands near his demolished house in the Jabal al-Baba community in the “E1” area near Jerusalem, 10 April. Israeli forces demolished three donor-funded houses and issued eighteen demolition orders to houses in the area.
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Israeli soldiers guard Jewish settlers as they move into the al-Rajabi building in the West Bank city of Hebron, 13 April. A years-long legal battle culminated with Israeli defense minister Moshe Yaalon’s authorization for three Jewish families to move into the house. The new fortress-like building is the first new settlement in Hebron since the 1980s.
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Israeli forces stand guard as bulldozers demolish a house in al-Aroub refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Hebron, 30 April. The homes were demolished for lack of permission after the residents’ requests for building permits were refused due to alleged non-compliance with the required regulations. Palestinians face severe restrictions on building in the West Bank while Israeli settlements receive massive building tenders.
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Palestinian farmers search the remains of concrete shelters demolished by the Israeli military in al-Tuwani village, occupied West Bank, 2 April. Seven shelters built in agricultural areas outside the village belonging to different inhabitants of al-Tuwani were demolished on the same morning.
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Children from the Adsan family look at CCTV footage recording Israeli civil administration officers and policemen entering their house to hand them a demolition order on their home in the Bedouin village of Bir-Hadaj in the Naqab (Negev) desert, 27 April. Bir-Hadaj was recognized by the Israeli government in 1999 and its urban plan was approved in 2003 but the village still lacks of basic infrastructure and its inhabitants frequently face demolition orders and harsh treatment by the police.
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A member of the Abu Juda family near the rubble of his house minutes after it was demolished by Israeli forces in the unrecognized Bedouin village of al-Zaarura in the south of present-day Israel, 9 April.
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A young Palestinian in Nabi Saleh village near the West Bank city of Ramallah throws back a tear gas canister fired by Israeli occupation forces during clashes following a protest in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, 18 April.
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Gaza’s Ark, a Palestinian-built protest boat which was preparing to break Israel’s naval blockade, after it was damaged in an explosion at the port in Gaza City, 29 April. The blast occurred at around 3:45am (0045 GMT) and was preceded by an anonymous phone call warning the guard that the vessel was about to be blown up, organizers said. The boat, a large fishing vessel which was preparing to take to the seas in June, sustained major damage, leaving three-quarters of it submerged.
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Israeli activists take part in a protest as Uriel Ferera, 19-year-old Orthodox Jew from Beer Sheva, enters Tel HaShomer military base where he announced his refusal to obey Israeli army service conscription orders, 27 April. Ferera said he refuses to take part in the occupation and that his request for civil service instead of a military one was rejected by the army.
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Palestinians protest at the entrance to the city of Umm al-Fahm in present-day Israel against a recent attack on a mosque in the city, 21 April. On 18 April, the door of a mosque in the city was set on fire and graffiti reading “Arabs out” was sprayed outside. The protest was held against the attacks on holy places for Muslims and Christians in Israel and the West Bank, calling on the Israeli police to take action against the perpetrators.
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Majd Kayyal, a Palestinian journalist, in his Haifa home, 19 April. Israel arrested Kayyal on 12 April at the Sheikh Hussein crossing on the Israel-Jordan border after he returned from a visit in Lebanon. Kayyal, who holds Israeli citizenship, attended a conference that marked the 40th anniversary of the as-Safir newspaper in Beirut. He was released after five days of interrogation after massive public pressure despite a gag order on coverage of his arrest.
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Samiha Dokeh poses for a portrait in the Palestinian village of Iqrit in the north of present-day Israel, 21 April. Dokeh was eight years old when she and her family were displaced from the village in 1948, along with the rest of its residents. The Israeli military destroyed the village and has since prevented their return. Only the village’s church and cemetery remain intact, and are still used by village residents while they campaign for a full return.
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A member of the Palestinian security forces carries a mortar shell as he explains to students the dangers of unexploded ammunition at a school in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, 7 April.
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Palestinian Orthodox Christians attend Palm Sunday mass at the Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City, 13 April.
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Palestinian girls attend basketball training in Jerusalem’s Old City, 30 April. The team is the first women’s team belonging to the Children of Jerusalem club and consists of approximately 70 girls between 10 to 20 years old.
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Palestinian youths perform musical instruments during sunset in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 22 April.
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