A wounded Palestinian protester is evacuated during demonstrations east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on 25 May. The woman medic in the photo is Razan al-Najjar, who was shot and killed by an Israeli army sniper on 1 June. Ashraf Amra APA images

Around 80 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip during the month of May.

More than 150 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and armed civilians so far this year. Six Israelis were killed by Palestinians during the same period.

Oday Akram Muhammad Abu Khalil, 15, died on 23 May, eight days after being shot in the stomach during protests marking the annual Nakba Day commemoration.

Abu Khalil was the sole Palestinian fatality in the West Bank during May; except for a Palestinian who died after he was severely beaten by Israeli prison guards, the rest occured in Gaza, where Israel massacred Palestinians participating in Great March of Return protests to end the siege on Gaza and to exercise their right to return to the homeland from which they were expelled in 1948.

More than 60 were fatally wounded on 14 May during massive protests against the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem that day, the 70th anniversary of the declaration of the State of Israel on the majority of historic Palestine. It marked the highest number of Palestinian fatalities in a single day since Israel’s 2014 war on Gaza.

Israel has killed more than 120 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the Great March of Return protests on 30 March. More than 100 of those killed were civilians, according to the rights group Al-Haq, and 14 were children.

Fighters killed

Several Palestinian fighters were killed on 27 May as Israel bombed dozen of sites across Gaza.

Six fighters with the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, were killed in an explosion in central Gaza on 5 May. The Qassam Brigades said the blast occurred while its fighters were tracking an Israeli spy system.

One Israeli, a soldier in the military’s elite Duvdevan unit, was killed during the month when a marble slab was dropped on his head during a raid in al-Amari refugee camp near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Israeli defense minister Avigdor Lieberman vowed to “reach those who threw stones at the soldier, and find them dead or alive.”

A 58-year-old Palestinian man with a heart condition died in a West Bank hospital after being injured by tear gas inhalation during Nakba Day protests. A baby in Gaza with a heart defect also died after being exposed to tear gas on 14 May.

“Unprecedented” health crisis

At the close of the month the Red Cross warned that Gaza was facing a health crisis of “unprecedented magnitude” after Israel’s crackdown on the Great March of Return protests left more than 13,000 Palestinians injured.

More than 3,600 Palestinians were wounded by live fire – some multiple times. Around “1,350 people have complex injuries and will require between three and five surgeries each,” Agence France Presse reported, citing Robert Mardini of the Red Cross. “This epic health crisis took place against the backdrop of multiple, protracted, chronic crises affecting all sectors of life in Gaza,” Mardini said.

Egypt announced that during the month of Ramadan, it would continuously open Rafah crossing, the sole point of exit and entry for the vast majority of Gaza’s two million residents.

Since 12 May, Rafah as been open for the longest continuous period since 2014, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Yarmouk in ruins

Meanwhile during the month of May the Syrian military announced that it had taken full control of Yarmouk refugee camp after a month-long operation aimed at routing armed insurgents from southern Damascus.

“Yarmouk was once the thriving home of 160,000 Palestinians. Today it lies in ruins, with hardly a house untouched by the conflict,” Chris Gunness, spokesperson for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, told Agence France Presse.

Thirty-two Palestinians were recorded to have died as a result of the ongoing war in Syria during the month of May.

Two youths were reported to have been shot and killed as pro-government forces looted homes in Yarmouk following the military’s takeover of the camp.

A family of five were killed during fierce fighting ahead of the government’s takeover of the camp, as were several other civilians.

The bodies of civilians remained unrecovered and unburied at the close of the month, sources in Yarmouk stated.

A Palestinian child walks along a segregated street in the H2 area of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on 6 May. The road is separated for Palestinians to use one side and Israeli settlers the other. Anne Paq ActiveStills

Mourners including Hamas leaders pray over the bodies of six Qassam Brigades fighters who were killed in an explosion the night before in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, on 6 May. Ashraf Amra APA images

A Palestinian man throws stones during the seventh week of Great March of Return protests along the Gaza-Israel boundary east of Gaza City on 11 May. Mohammed Zaanoun ActiveStills

Israeli occupation forces inspect the house belonging to the Dawabsha family which was set on fire by suspected Jewish settlers in the village of Duma near the West Bank city of Nablus, 11 May. A Palestinian baby and his parents were killed and his brother was badly injured in a fire caused by Israeli settlers in the village in 2015. Ayman Ameen APA images

Palestinian protesters confront Israeli occupation forces along the boundary with Israel in the central Gaza Strip on 11 May. Mahmoud Khattab APA images

Israeli police push Palestinian protesters, including members of the Israeli parliament, during the opening ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem on 14 May. Oren Ziv ActiveStills

Left-wing Israelis from the anti-racism group Tag Meir hand out flowers to Palestinians outside the Damascus Gate to Jerusalem’s Old City to protest the annual ultra-nationalist flag march celebrating Israel’s 1967 seizure of East Jerusalem, 14 May. Oren Ziv ActiveStills

A right-wing Israeli man argues with a Palestinian woman at the Damascus Gate to Jerusalem’s Old City during the annual flag march celebrating Israel’s seizure of the Palestinian-dominated eastern sector of Jerusalem, 14 May. Oren Ziv ActiveStills

A Palestinian youth holds a slingshot during Nakba Day protests in front of Israel’s Beit El compound, north of the West Bank city of Ramallah, on 15 May. Anne Paq ActiveStills

A Palestinian wounded by Israeli snipers during protests along Gaza’s eastern perimeter is transferred to hospital in Gaza City on 14 May. Mahmoud Ajour APA images

Palestinians mourn over the body of Yazan al-Tubasi at his funeral in Gaza City on 15 May, a day after he was fatally wounded by Israeli occupation forces during protests along Gaza’s eastern boundary. Mahmoud Ajour APA images

A woman raises the Palestinian flag in the direction of the route of Israel’s wall, here consisting of a series of barbed-wire and electric fences, during a Nakba Day demonstration in the West Bank village of Budrus on 15 May. Anne Paq ActiveStills

A Palestinian vendor sells dates and dried fruit at a market in the West Bank City of Nablus during Ramadan on 15 May. Ayman Ameen APA images

Palestinians pray during a protest along the Gaza-Israeli boundary east of Gaza City on the first Friday of Ramadan, 18 May. Mohammed Zaanoun ActiveStills

Palestinian women make their way through an Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on their way to attend prayer at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque on the first Friday of Ramadan, 18 May. Wisam Hashlamoun APA images

The family of Muhammad Alayan, 20, who died of injuries sustained during Great March of Return protests, mourn during his funeral in Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, on 19 May. Ashraf Amra APA images

Palestinians injured during Great Return March protests are treated in the intensive care unit of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on 19 May. Medical facilities in the Gaza Strip, already on the brink of collapse after more than a decade of Israeli siege, have struggled to treat the thousands of protesters shot by Israeli snipers. Mohammed Zaanoun ActiveStills

A Palestinian boy sells mint at a Gaza City market during the month of Ramadan on 20 May. Ramadan in the Gaza Strip is colored by a dire economy and chronic electricity cuts, leaving its residents with about two to three hours of electricity per day, on top of the high number of casualties during the Great March of Return protests. Mohammed Zaanoun ActiveStills

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, 83, at a Ramallah hospital where he was being treated for pneumonia and other ailments for several days, 21 May. Thaer Ganaim APA images

Palestinian protesters throw eggs at a vehicle belonging to US diplomats as they arrive to a meeting in the West Bank city of Beit Jala on 21 May. Wisam Hashlamoun APA images

Syrian soldiers walk past destroyed buildings in Yarmouk refugee camp in southern Damascus on 22 May. Omar Sanadiki Reuters

Palestinians in the West Bank near Ramallah attempt to cross Israel’s wall to pray at al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem on the second Friday of Ramadan, 25 May. Shadi Jarar’ah APA images

A woman throws stones during a protest along the Gaza-Israel boundary east of Gaza City on the second Friday of Ramadan, 25 May. Mohammed Zaanoun ActiveStills

High school student Muhammad Musabeh, whose leg was amputated after he was shot during a Great March of Return protest, sits for his final exams at a school in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on 26 May. Ashraf Amra APA images

Palestinian photographer Yasir Qudih, seriously wounded by Israeli snipers while covering Great March of Return protests on 14 May, returns to Gaza via Erez checkpoint on 27 May after receiving treatment at Makassed hospital in occupied East Jerusalem. Mahmoud Ajour APA images

Muhammad Murshid, 25, shot in his leg by Israeli snipers during Great March of Return protests, rests at his home in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, on 27 May. Mahmoud Khattab APA images

A Palestinian wounded during Great March of Return protests receives treatment at a Doctors Without Borders clinic in Gaza City on 28 May. Mahmoud Ajour APA images

Palestinians gather on small boats to see off a vessel attempting to break Israel’s naval blockade on the Gaza Strip on 29 May. The boat carried 17 Palestinians, including proteters who were injured during the Great March of Return, medical patients needing treatment unavailable in Gaza, students and crew members. It was intercepted by Israeli naval forces 14 nautical miles off of Gaza’s coast. Mohammed Zaanoun ActiveStills

Palestinians walk along a site targeted in an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on 30 May. The Israeli military launched dozens of airstrikes on Gaza after Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired rockets and mortars towards Israel following the killing of several fighters in Gaza. Ashraf Amra APA images