Palestine weekly wrap: No respite for Eid as Israel kills dozens in Gaza

Even Eid al-Adha — one of the two major holidays of Islam, which took place last week — has not been able to stem a relentless tide of Israeli attacks, demolitions and incursions across occupied Palestine.

At least 33 Palestinians were killed and more than 130 wounded over the four days of Eid, from May 27 to May 30, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, despite a ceasefire covering the enclave.

Among the dead was Ahmad Ali Helles, 37, who was reportedly the sole surviving member of his immediate family and was killed in a drone strike on Shawa Square in Gaza City. Dr Jamal Abu Aoun, head of anesthesia at Yafa Hospital, was also killed by Israeli forces near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah.

In Khirbet Masoud, near Jenin in the occupied West Bank, a settler torched a Palestinian home and car. “Mazel tov” — Hebrew for “congratulations” — was spray-painted across the walls in apparent mockery of Eid holidays.

Israeli soldiers also fired tear gas at families visiting relatives’ graves in Jenin, a common custom during Eid Al-Adha, while Israeli security forces pulled the headscarf off a woman visiting Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Several Israeli entities were added on May 28 to the annual blacklist of parties maintained by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, following credible suspicions of patterns of rape and conflict-related sexual violence. The same list also includes the Palestinian armed group Hamas.

Guterres’s accompanying report, covering 2025, documented UN-verified cases affecting 14 men, seven women, nine boys and one girl from Gaza and the West Bank. These cases were attributed to the Israeli military, the Israel Prison Service and special police units.

The notorious Sde Teiman military camp and several facilities used to detain Palestinians have also been cited as sites of abuse. Israel responded by cutting ties with Guterres.