Snow blankets Jerusalem and the hilly West Bank late Thursday and Friday, shutting down roads and highways, covering holy sites and the separation wall alike. In Gaza, heavy rain causes flooding in the war-torn Strip.
Snow covers the Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem, February 20, 2015. (Photo by Faiz Abu Rmeleh/Activestills.org)
Palestinian children make a snow model of the Dome of the Rock in front on Al Aqsa Mosque compound, February 20, 2015. (Photo by Faiz Abu Rmeleh/Activestills.org)
Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, February 20, 2015. (Photo by Faiz Abu Rmeleh/Activestills.org)
Snow around the separation wall that surrounds the Shuafat Refugee Camp in East Jerusalem, February 20, 2015. (Photo by Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
Snow on the Church of Mary Magdalene in East Jerusalem, February 20, 2015. (Photo by Faiz Abu Rmeleh/Activestills.org)
A Jewish man prays in the snow at the Western Wall, February 20, 2015. (Photo by Faiz Abu Rmeleh/Activestills.org)
An elderly man climbs snow-covered stairs leading up to the Dome of the Rock, East Jerusalem, February 20, 2015. (Photo by Faiz Abu Rmeleh/Activestills.org)
Snow covers the West Bank city of Ramallah, February 20, 2015. (Photo by Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
A Palestinian woman and girl use a makeshift bridge to cross a flooded street during the winter storm in Al Shati Refugee Camp, Gaza City, February 19, 2015. (Ann Paq/Activestills.org) The poor infrastructure in Gaza resulted in flooding in the streets and sewage overflow. Bad weather conditions especially affected the tens of thousands of Palestinians who lost their homes during last summer’s Israeli offensive, during which 18,000 housing units were destroyed. Many of them remain in shelters or in their damaged homes.
Palestinian children warm themselves around a fire during the winter storm in Al Shati Refugee Camp, Gaza City, February 19, 2015. (Photo by Ann Paq/Activestills.org)
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Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war – the atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel and the massive retaliatory Israeli attacks on Gaza. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing violence.
We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed unleashed by these events has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Hamas’ murderous assault in southern Israel has devastated and shocked the country to its core. Israel’s retaliatory bombing of Gaza is wreaking destruction on the already besieged strip and killing a ballooning number of civilians. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to escalate their attacks on Palestinians.
This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 13 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, the entrenched occupation, and an increasingly normalized siege on Gaza.
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