Two Palestinians were on indefinite hunger strikes in Israeli prisons at the time of going to press. Odeh Haroub (32) and Hasan Awawi (35) were among 470 or so Palestinian civilians being held in Israeli ‘administrative detention’ without charge or trial.
By 13 May, the pair had completed 41 days on hunger strike, according to the Palestine Prisoners’ Society (PPS).
At the beginning of May, 25 Palestinians and four Israelis died during days of violence in and around Gaza. Israeli airstrikes and artillery completely destroyed 18 residential buildings and family homes, a mosque, several schools, three media offices, and three ambulances, according to the Ma’an news agency.
Israeli soldiers continue to shoot unarmed demonstrators in Gaza’s Great March of Return protests every Friday. On 10 May, they shot dead Abdullah Abd al-Aal (24).
As of February, 183 Palestinians had been shot dead, and 6,106 wounded with live ammunition, according to a UN commission of inquiry (see PN 2628–2629)