For years we've read scattered stories about the rise of Palestinian tech startups; plucky entrepreneurs seeking to forge prosperity against long odds.

• Plus efforts from Big Tech, like Google's $10 million upskilling initiative, and some dedicated venture capital funds like Ibtikar.
• Today, much of that is either on hold or severely hampered.

What to know: The Palestinian territories are home to hundreds of tech startups, some backed by VCs, and also to scores of outsourced tech workers (many of whom are employed or contracted by Israeli companies).

• Some of that is in Gaza, one of the world's poorest areas even before this month.
• But the bulk of it is in Ramallah and other parts of the occupied West Bank that so far have been relatively safe from the violence.

State of play: West Bank founders and tech workers tell me that while many grammar schools and stores are open, and basic infrastructure remains operational, most of their work is being done from home.

• Primary roads between many West Bank cities have been closed. So have the checkpoints into Israel, which are normally used by hundreds of thousands of Palestinian workers.

What they're saying: One of those West Bank-to-Tel Aviv commuters is Moha Alshawamreh, who was profiled earlier this year by the NY Times.

• "Things will not be back to normal again until the war ends but, even then in terms of trust, communication and interactions, things might take much more time and effort," he tells me this morning.
• "I have never seen these levels of hate. What Hamas did was awful and a tragedy, but the damage is way further than the killings or hostages," Alshawamreh adds. "They took us a big step back and severed the hope that many people had within them."
• Iliana Montauk, a former Gaza resident and CEO of tech talent marketplace Manara, adds that people either have been forced to evacuate or are "hunkering down and staying home."
• Her company works with around 100 engineers in Gaza and is trying to speak with everyone daily.
• Just before getting on the phone with me, Montauk heard from a software engineer named Dalia Awad, who left her Gaza City neighborhood and says she's now is staying at her uncle's home — communicating either via solar cells he installed or via slow "street internet" connections that are accessed via cards that can be purchased at local stores.

The bottom line: There is optimism that things will get better. But dread that they'll first get worse.

Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD) on Sunday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and said it plans to close "additional underperforming stores."

Why it's the BFD: Rite Aid is one of America's largest drugstore chains, with more than 2,100 retail locations, even though its footprint is significantly smaller than market leaders Walgreens, CVS and Walmart.

Details: The company said it's received commitments for $3.45 billion in financing from some of its lenders, which should help it support ongoing business operations, and named Jefferey Stein as CEO and chief restructuring officer.

• Interim CEO Elizabeth "Busy" Burr will remain on Rite Aid's board of directors.

The bottom line: This has long been more a matter of when, which may be why debt-laden Rite Aid tried to merge with Walgreens in 2017 and Albertsons in 2018.

• The Philadelphia-based company's shares have fallen more than 84% over the past year, as it faces federal, state, and civil lawsuits tied to opioid prescriptions. Plus new competition from deep-pocketed rivals like Amazon.

⚡ Skeleton Technologies, an Estonian fast energy storage startup, raised €108m in equity and debt funding from Siemens Financial Services and Marubeni Corp. https://axios.link/45znGjF

• Hayden AI, an Oakland-based autonomous traffic management system, raised $53m in Series B funding from Drawdown Fund, Oshkosh Corp. and Bridgestone. www.hayden.ai

⚡ Myenergi, a British maker of smart home energy tech, raised £30m from Energy Impact Partners. https://axios.link/45A6lqJ

• Membrane Labs, a cryptocurrency-focused trading and lending platform, raised $20m in Series A funding co-led by Brevan Howard, Point 72 and Jane Street. https://axios.link/491ZysW

🌎 Scope3, a New York-based decarbonization startup focused on the media and advertising industries, raised $20m in Series B funding. GV led, and was joined by Room40 Ventures and Venrock. www.scope3.com

• Matic, an embedded insurtech startup, raised $17m in Series B extension funding. IA Capital Group and Cultivation Capital co-led, and were joined by Intuit Ventures, TruStage Ventures and Assurity Ventures. https://axios.link/3rImAnV

🚑 Arctop, an LA-based developer of cognition software, raised $10m in Series A funding co-led by Fifth Growth Fund and Supermoon Capital. https://axios.link/48TPjqC

• Account Labs, a Singapore-based crypto wallet provider, raised $7.7m from Amber Group, MixMarvel DAO Ventures and Qiming Ventures. https://axios.link/46oFhfe

🚑 Leucine, a New York-based pharma manufacturing startup, raised $7m in Series A funding. Ecolab led, and was joined by insiders Pravega Ventures, Axilor Ventures and Techstars. www.leucine.io

• Lopay, a London-based instant payments startup, raised £6m in seed funding from BackedVC, Portage and the Venture Collective. https://axios.link/46JBh8W

🎵 Hook, a New York-based music remix and remake platform, raised $3m in seed funding. Waverley Capital led, and was joined by Three Six Zero and Japan's Avex. https://axios.link/45wV3U9

• Meolaa, an Indian e-commerce platform for sustainable consumer products, raised $2m in seed funding led by Turbostart. https://axios.link/3Fbw0vc

• Apax Partners and Bain Capital submitted nonbinding buyout bids for Swiss cloud software firm SoftwareOne (Swiss: SWON), which previously rejected two takeover approaches from Bain but then launched a strategic review process, per Reuters. https://axios.link/3rSOWf7

• Arcline agreed to buy Hartzell Aviation, a Piqua, Ohio-based maker of aircraft subsystems and aftermarket partners, from Tailwind Technologies. www.hartzell.com

• Citation Capital acquired a majority stake in Cibo Vita, a Totowa, N.J.-based maker of healthy snack foods. www.cibovita.com

🚑 Frontier Biosolutions, a new global pharma services platform backed by KKR and Sweden's Flerie, invested in Coriolis Pharma, a Munich-based biopharma formulation research firm. www.coriolis-pharma.com

• KKR made its formal bid for Telecom Italia's landline network, which reportedly could be valued at up to €23b. https://axios.link/3twVEb8

• TPG Rise Climate agreed to buy a 9% stake in Tata Technologies from India's Tata Motors at nearly a $2b valuation, ahead of an IPO. https://axios.link/3S0s5c0

• Wendel SE of France is considering a takeover of IK Partners, a Benelux-focused midmarket PE firm that's raised more than €14b since its 1089 formation, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/45z1QwL

No companies plan to price IPOs on U.S. exchanges this week.

• Didi Global, the Chinese ride-hail firm that last year delisted from the NYSE, is planning a Hong Kong listing in 2024, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/3ZU3SWZ

• Kayou, a Chinese maker of anime products, hired CIC and Morgan Stanley to prep a 2024 Hong Kong IPO, per Bloomberg. Backers include Hongshan (fka Sequoia Capital China). https://axios.link/46LuHPT

🍔 TAB Gida, operator of Burger King in Turkey, is preparing to raise upwards of $246m via an Istanbul IPO. https://axios.link/478SclJ

• A&M Capital Partners and Highview Capital hired Harris Williams to explore a sale of GS Foods Group, an Ontario, Calif.-based food distributor that could fetch more than $1.5b (including debt), per Reuters. https://axios.link/3tzKDWF

🎵 Block (NYSE: SQ) acquired Hifi, a New York-based financial rights group focused on music. Hifi had raised around $8m from firms like Bonnier, Hestia Holdings, Lerer Hippeau Ventures and Gaingels. https://axios.link/3ZQn8EP

⚡ Global Infrastructure Partners is seeking to sell its 51% stake in Vena Energy, a Singapore-based clean energy project developer that could be valued at $15b, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/3rR9cxK

• Albemarle (NYSE: ALB), the world's largest lithium producer, ended its efforts to acquire Australian lithium miner Liontown Resources (ASX: LTR) for A$6.6b. https://axios.link/45xBj2z

🌎 Earth Finance, a Tacoma, Wash.-based climate strategy firm, acquired Seattle-based climate advocacy firm Molecule. www.earthfinance.com

• Fiserv (NYSE: FI) acquired Skytef, a Brazilian provider of electronic funds transfer solutions. https://axios.link/48MKtuZ

⚡ NatWest Group Pension Fund is seeking to sell its 50% stake in Phoenix Energy, a natural gas distributor in Northern Ireland that could be valued at around £1.2b, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/3rR8i4k

• Next (LSE: NXT) is in talks to buy fellow British fashion retailer FatFace for £115.2m. https://axios.link/3tqkdGz

⚽ Jim Ratcliffe, a British billionaire, is in talks to acquire at least a 25% stake in soccer club Manchester United (NYSE: MANU) at more than a $3.3b valuation, per the WSJ. https://axios.link/3PRXDhI

⚡ Saudi Aramco is considering a bid for Shell's (NYSE: SHEL) assets in Pakistan, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/3Qjw6Y7

• Vista Outdoor (NYSE: VSTO) agreed to sell its sporting products business, including guns and ammunition, to Prague-based Czechoslovak Group for $1.91b. https://axios.link/3txC0fh

• Ligado Networks, a Reston, Va.-based wireless spectrum effort, is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, per the WSJ. https://axios.link/3QiRJaQ

• Prima, a Fresno, Calif.-based stone fruit farmer owned by Paine Schwartz Partners, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. https://axios.link/3M1Ux9I

• Par Equity, an Edinburgh-based VC firm, is raising £100m for a fund focused on Northern U.K. startups, per TechCrunch. https://axios.link/3M1TCpM

• Shield Capital, a VC firm focused on "frontier tech" for national security and commercial markets, raised $186m for its debut fund. www.shieldcap.com

🚑 Emma Gasol joined European VC firm AdBio Partners as an investment director. She previously was with Grifols. www.adbio.partners

⚡ Philip Holder joined Moelis & Co. as a Houston-based managing director in the firm's power and utilities group. He previously was an SVP of strategic planning at CenterPoint Energy. www.moelis.com

ExxonMobil's $65 billion deal for shale heavyweight Pioneer Natural Resources, announced last week, is helping the 2023 energy and power sector make up some M&A volume ground.

• The all-stock deal would make Exxon by far the largest player in America's most prolific oilfield, the Permian Basin. It's also is what Axios' Ben Gemen terms "a climate Rorschach test."
• Also worth noting that David Scott, Exxon's head of shale oil and gas production, was arrested just hours before the merger announcement, and charged with sexual assault. He's scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 25, and reportedly has been "relieved of his work responsibilities while the police investigation proceeds."
• Elsewhere, Tourmaline Oil (TSX: TOU) today agreed to buy Calgary-based Bonavista Energy for C$1.45 billion.