A month that should be filled with happiness, peace, and devotion has unfortunately, in Palestine, become synonymous with occupation, apartheid, and repression.

Israeli forces injured and arrested dozens of Palestinians over the weekend in occupied East Jerusalem, as Muslims marked the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan.  Last year, Israeli police violence against Palestinians in Jerusalem during the holiday was the primary driver of Palestinian protests that swelled into the May 2021 uprisings.

Over 16,000 housing units were damaged during the recent Israeli attacks on Gaza, and 1,800 units were completely destroyed. While that destruction is immense, what those numbers don’t capture is what else was lost in those places — the irreplaceable photos, keepsakes, and possessions and that made each a home.

Once more, the holy month of Ramadan arrives while its tragedies are still festering, this time a surge in coronavirus cases in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Ramadan is underway in the tightly packed Gaza Strip. Officials have eased some restrictions on social distancing allowing Palestinians a reprieve from isolation to buy sweets and gifts to celebrate the Islamic holy month.

Two Palestinians have died of COVID-19 related causes, far fewer than the 222 Israelis who have died from the virus.

The IMEMC reports that Israeli colonial settlers unleashed their cattle, on Wednesday, onto Palestinian-owned farmlands in the northern Alghour area of the Jordan Valley, in the West Bank.

At a time when Palestinians would usually be flooding the markets doing Ramadan shopping and hanging festive lights outside their homes, the streets are empty, and the usual excitement and anticipation has been replaced with an air of sadness.

Every year during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Israeli authorities approve a package to “relax” the restrictions on movement for West Bank Palestinians to facilitate worshippers’ trips to Jerusalem. As a result, tens of thousands of Palestinians headed to Qalandiya checkpoint, Bethlehem 300 checkpoint, and Zaytoun checkpoint early on Friday mornings to take advantage of the unusual regulations. Ahmad Al-Bazz reports from Qalandiya and Bethlehem to show what life under Israel control looks like.

Did Cristiano Ronaldo really donate €1.5 million to Palestinians for Ramadan? The short answer: no. The long answer, however, is more interesting. From Albanian-language outlets to Russian government owned media, how the hoax was developed, how it spread, and how it eventually became uncritically accepted as “fact.”