The Palestine Chronology

The IDF sets up another artillery battery nr. Kerem Shalom outside the s. Gaza Strip; conducts air strikes on a car nr. Rafah assassinating wanted senior PRC military cmdr. Iyad Abu al-‘Aynayn and 3 other PRC mbrs., also killing ‘Aynayn’s 5-yr.-old son, a young bystander, and wounding at least 14 bystanders, including ‘Aynayn’s 7-yr.- old daughter; steps up shelling across Gaza, particularly around Gaza City, including nr. Abbas’s presidential compound where he is currently staying (no injuries reported); blows up a Palestinian home in Hebron allegedly used for manufacturing explosives; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Balata r.c. (firing on stone-throwing youths who confront the troops, wounding 2), nr. Jenin. After Palestinians fire a rocket fr. n. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries; the IDF shells n. Gaza, injuring 4 Palestinians nr. Bayt Hanun, Bayt Lahiya. Jewish settlers fr. Avraham Avino occupy a Palestinian house in Hebron, evicting the Palestinian residents (the IDF observes but does not intervene); the settlers claim to have purchased the building, but the Palestinian owners deny this; the Israeli Civil Administration says it is reviewing the claim. Jewish settlers fr. Elon Moreh beat a 73-yr.-old Palestinian farmer working on his land in nearby Salim. (AFP, HA, YA 4/7; Guardian, HA, NYT, WP 4/8; VOP 4/8 in WNC 4/9; PCHR 4/9; PCHR 4/13)

As Operation Southern Arrow on Gaza continues, the IDF conducts air strikes on 2 AMB targets in Bayt Lahiya where AMB mbrs. allegedly are meeting to plan rocket launches against Israel; makes air strikes on the presidential landing strip in Gaza City for a 2d time (see 4/5), on a Muslim youth association building in Gaza City (causing damage but no injuries); fires some 300 artillery shells into Gaza (injuring 2 Palestinians nr. their homes in Bayt Hanun and Bayt Lahiya) in response to Palestinians firing some 12 rockets towards Israel in recent days; also drops 1,000s of leaflet on n. Gaza warning Palestinians against approaching areas fr. which rockets are launched. The IDF also arrests, questions, releases PA Jerusalem Affairs M Khalid Abu ‘Arafa, a Jerusalem resident, as he leaves Jerusalem for the West Bank, saying he is on a list of individuals barred fr. entering the West Bank for security reasons; continues arrest raids, house searches in Nablus (see 4/5), firing on residential areas, occupying a Palestinian home as an observation post, firing on stone-throwing youths who confront the troops, wounding 8 plus an American journalist covering the demonstration; bars Palestinian vehicular traffic into or out of Tulkarm; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Bethlehem, in and around Jenin. In separate raids on Nablus late in the evening, an IDF undercover unit shoots, wounds a PA police officer who mistakes their raid on an apartment for a burglary (the officer is uniformed and identifies himself before being shot); fires on a Palestinian vehicle that enters an area in which an arrest raid is underway, wounding 4 bystanders, fatally shooting a 5th bystander who attempts to leave the scene to get medical help. (HA, MM 4/6; Voice of al-Aqsa 4/6 in WNC 4/9; NYT, WT 4/7; Guardian 4/8; HA 5/7; PCHR 4/13)