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Ali Ali / EPA
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Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters
Hamas militants hold weapons during a march in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, marking the anniversary of a prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas, Oct. 18, 2012. Last year, Israel freed more than 1,000 jailed Palestinians in a swap for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held in Gaza.
Gaza hails anniversary of prisoner swap deal
AFP reports — Gaza celebrated Thursday a victory one year ago when Israel began freeing 1,027 prisoners in exchange for the release of a soldier held captive by militants for five years.
Celebrations organized by the ruling Hamas movement began in the early morning with hundreds of militants from the Islamist group's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, marching through Gaza City, an AFP correspondent reported.
Wheelchair-bound photographer strives to keep shooting
Wheelchair-bound Palestinian freelance photographer Moamen Qreiqea is helped by his brother at his home in Gaza City, Oct. 1, 2012.
Suhaib Salem / Reuters — Moamen Qreiqea, 25, lost both his legs in an Israeli air strike in 2008 while taking pictures east of Gaza. The father of two is determined to continue his career as a photographer despite his disability.
Moamen Qreiqea takes pictures of his daughter outside his home in Gaza City, Oct. 1.
Moamen Qreiqea holds his cameras next to his mother in his home in Gaza City, Oct. 1.
Moamen Qreiqea exercises in a gym in Gaza City, Oct. 1.
Ali Ali / EPA
A Palestinian fisherman pulls a net at Al-Nusirat's beach of Gaza Strip on July 11, 2012. The fishermen go out every morning hoping they will be allowed out to sea, but Israeli navy forces rarely allow them to leave shallow waters.
Jaafar Ashtiyeh / AFP - Getty Images
A young Palestinian protester runs away from Israeli soldiers during a demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the village of Kafr Qaddum, near the West Bank city of Ramallah on June 22, 2012.
Mohammed Abed / AFP - Getty Images
A Palestinian man smokes near damage following Israeli air strikes in Gaza City on Feb. 12. A Palestinian man died after being wounded in a series of retaliatory Israeli air strikes overnight.
Palestinian man takes a post-missile strike smoke break
Palestinian officials say Israeli airstrikes have killed a security guard in the Gaza Strip.
The security officials in Gaza say 71-year-old Abdelkareem Abu Zeituneh was guarding an orchard when his trailer was hit. They say three other people were wounded in Sunday's airstrike.
The Israeli military said in a statement that aircraft targeted tunnels and a weapons factory in response to rocket fire on southern Israel.
-- Reported by the Associated Press
Related: News from the Middle East
Outside looking in: three views of the last Friday of Ramadan
Oliver Weiken / EPA
A Palestinian boy peeks through a gap in a wall from behind which Palestinian women try to cross to Jerusalem at a checkpoint in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, August 26.
Munir Uz Zaman / AFP - Getty Images
Bangladeshi Muslims offer Jummat-Ul-Vida prayers on the last Friday of Ramadan outside the National Mosque of Bangladesh, Baitul Mukarram in Dhaka on August 26, ahead of the Eid al-Fitr festival. The three-day festival, which begins after the sighting of a new crescent moon, marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, during which devout Muslims abstain from food, drink, smoking and sex from dawn to dusk.
Tuwaedaniya Meringing / AFP - Getty Images
A Thai Muslim boy reads the Quran as he attends the last Friday prayer of Ramadan at the Central Mosque in the southern city of Pattani, Thailand, on August 26. The holy month of Ramadan is recording a spike in attacks by suspected Muslim separatist insurgents in the Thai restive south with a roadside blast which killed at least five security officers on August 26 in the neighbouring province of Narathiwat.
See more images of Ramadan on PhotoBlog.
Hatem Moussa / AP
Palestinians shop at the new al-Andulusia mall in Gaza City on August 16. An abrupt flurry of construction is suddenly allowing a tiny middle class to flaunt its wealth in the impoverished Gaza Strip, fueling perhaps the most acrimonious grassroots resentment yet toward the ruling Hamas movement.
A supermarket in Gaza
When I saw this picture I thought of Martin Parr, who once said that he took photographs in his local supermarket "because this to me is the front line."
The AP moved Hatem Moussa's photo from the newly opened al-Andalusia mall alongside a report about the Gaza Strip's nouveau riche, whose wealth and conspicuous consumption are said to be the cause of growing resentment toward the ruling Hamas movement:
This middle class, which has become visible at the same time as a mini-construction boom in this blockaded territory, is celebrating its weddings in opulent halls and vacationing in newly built beach bungalows. That level of consumption may be modest by Western standards, but it's in startling contrast to the grinding poverty of most Gazans, who rely on U.N. food handouts to get by.
Some of the well-off are Hamas loyalists. That rankles many Gaza residents because the conservative Islamic movement gained popularity by tending to the poor — through charitable aid, education and medical care — along with its armed struggle against Israel.
"Hamas has become rich at the expense of the people," fumed a 22-year-old seamstress, Nisrine. Continue reading.
Tales of destruction in Israel and Gaza: mosque and synagogue damaged, mourning on both sides
The AP reports from RAFAH, Gaza Strip:
The Israeli military confirmed Friday that its aircraft struck seven targets in Gaza overnight, a day after gunmen who crossed from the Egyptian desert killed eight people in southern Israel.
It said targets included a weapons manufacturing site, unidentified militant facilities and tunnels to smuggle goods into Gaza and infiltrate Israel.
Additionally, the military said five rockets fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza landed in Southern Israel. There was no immediate word of casualties. Continue reading.
Reuters
A Palestinian man carries an injured woman into Al-Shifa hospital, after an overnight Israeli air strike, in Gaza City on August 19.
Edi Israel / EPA
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish 'yeshiva' student holds metal pieces collected at his seminary school in the southern Israeli coastal town of Ashdod on August 19 after a Grad missile, fired by Palestinian militants inside the Gaza Strip, exploded just outside the yeshiva.
Mohammed Salem / Reuters
A Palestinian man surveys the damage in Bin Zayed mosque after an Israeli air strike in Gaza on August 19.
David Buimovitch / AFP - Getty Images
Ultra Orthodox Jews evacuate Torah scrolls from a synagogue that was damaged following a Grad rocket attack from the Gaza Strip in the coastal city of Ashdod on August 19. Two people were injured, one seriously, when the rocket fired by militants in Gaza hit the Israeli city.
Ahmad Gharabli / AFP - Getty Images
Israeli mourners cry during the funeral of a 22-year-old soldier at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on August 19. Eight Israelis were killed in a string of attacks in the south of the country, prompting a series of Israeli air strikes targeting a Gaza group it said was responsible.
Mahmud Hams / AFP - Getty Images
A Palestinian mother mourns over the body of her 13-year-old son during his funeral in Gaza City on August 19. Israeli fighter jets bombed Gaza, killing a teenager and injuring five people.
Uriel Sinai / Getty Images
Israeli army troops stand guard on the Israeli - Egyptian border, following yesterday's series of coordinated gun and roadside bomb attacks against military and civilian targets, August 19.
Thaer Ganaim / Palestinian Authority via EPA
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, center, meets with members of Palestinian factions that live in Lebanon during a visit to Beirut on August 17. Lebanon is home to tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees.
The intrigues of Palestinian politics
This picture gives us a glimpse into the complexities of Palestinian internal politics.
A Reuters report out today analyses some of the issues facing President Abbas:
Calls for Palestinian protests to back a diplomatic push for statehood at the United Nations next month have put Israel on guard; the peace process in deep crisis, some see a violent September, inspired by the Arab Spring.
Yet to many, a sustained Intifada, or uprising, appears unlikely, at least for now. To ordinary Palestinians, the significance of U.N. maneuvers in New York is hard to fathom, their leaders in the West Bank are wary of violence with Israel and their national movement remains weakened by a deep schism.
"There might be some protests," said Zakaria al-Qaq, a Palestinian political analyst. "But not with the size that the Palestinian leadership expects because the people feel they are marginalized. There is a great lack of confidence." Continue reading.
Israeli air strikes on Gaza leave one dead, four wounded
Eyad Baba / AP
Palestinians inspect the damage outside a smuggling tunnel following an overnight Israeli airstrike in Rafah, on the border between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip, on Aug. 16. Israeli aircraft struck five targets in Gaza on Tuesday, killing one militant and wounding four other Palestinians, according to a Palestinian official. The Israeli military said the targets were hit in retaliation for rocket fire on southern Israel on Monday night that caused no injuries.
Eyad Baba / AP
Medical workers treat a wounded boy at Al Najar hospital following an Israeli air strike on a Hamas military training camp, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Aug. 16.
The AP reports from JERUSALEM:
Israeli aircraft struck five targets in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing one militant and wounding four other Palestinians, according to a Palestinian official.
The military said four targets were hit in retaliation for rocket fire on southern Israel on Monday night that caused no injuries. In a separate strike, Israeli aircraft hit a group of armed men preparing to launch a rocket attack, the military said.
Palestinian health official Adham Abu Salmia said the casualties included three militants and a 5-year-old boy.
Observing Ramadan in Bethlehem, Dhaka and Delhi
Kevin Frayer / AP
An Indian Muslim girl wears a fancy dress as she waits for noon prayers to begin at the Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi, India, on August 12. Muslims throughout the world are marking the holy month of Ramadan, where observants fast from dawn till dusk.
Musa Al-Shaer / AFP - Getty Images
Palestinian Muslims walk through an Israeli checkpoint on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Bethlehem on August 12 as they wait to cross into Jerusalem to attend the second Friday prayers of the holy fasting month of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.
Pavel Rahman / AP
Bangladeshi Muslims attend Friday prayers at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on August 12.
See more images of Ramadan on PhotoBlog.