The Palestine Chronology

International diplomacy to end OCL clicks into gear with France proposing that Israel and Hamas impose a 48-hr. humanitarian truce to try to defuse the violence and restore the Gaza cease-fire, with humanitarian groups, Egypt, the EU, the Quartet, and the U.S. opening mediation channels (see Quarterly Update). Israel’s security cabinet meets to discuss the French proposal but does not formally respond.

Israeli actions: The IDF conducts 70 air strikes on Gaza, while the Israeli navy continues shelling from the sea, killing at least 10 Palestinians and wounding 40, bringing the death toll to about 370. The IDF reports hitting 110 individual sites, with primary targets being tunnels on the Rafah border, suspected weapons factories and rocket-launching sites, civil and naval police stations, and groups of resistance mbrs. In Gaza City, at least 20 air strikes hit Haniyeh’s offices, PA Interior Min., and main PA government complex in Gaza City, all of which had been targeted previously; 1 air strike hits an ambulance, killing 1 paramedic, seriously wounding a doctor and the driver. Part of Gaza’s main power grid is also hit, cutting all power to Gaza City. A fuel depot in Rafah is destroyed. In al-Bureij r.c., a mosque and health clinic are hit. In Khan Yunis, a money exchange is destroyed. At least 7 homes across the Strip are targeted. Target locations include Abasan, Bayt Hanun, Bayt Lahiya, al-Bureij r.c., Dayr al-Balah, Gaza City, Jabaliya town and r.c., Khan Yunis, al-Maghazi (c. Gaza), al-Mughraqa, al-Qarara, Rafah. The IDF launches a YouTube channel to broadcast declassified videos of its operations in Gaza, “other footage of interest to the international community” (JPI 1/8) and begins regular briefings for Internet bloggers worldwide.

Palestinian actions: Palestinians fire 41 rockets, 10 mortars into Israel, damaging 1 home in Sederot and causing several light injuries (excluding shock); 1 rocket lands in Beersheba, 25 mi. fr. the Gaza border, marking the farthest strike to date; 2 other long-range rockets land in Ashdod. Humanitarian notes: Israel allows 93 trucks into Gaza (50 carrying medical supplies and food donated by aid groups; 43 carrying commercial goods), but Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital says it is out of 150 kinds of medicine and 230 other medical supplies, including gloves, scissors, sterilization equipment, nitrogen for anesthesia. Fuel shipments are still cut off; Gaza’s power plant shuts down for lack of fuel. (BBC, HA, Independent 12/30; IDF, IFM, NYT, REU, UNOSAT, WP, WT 12/31; JP, PCHR 1/1; ITV 1/2; IDF 1/3; WP 1/4; IFM 1/8; NYT 1/13)

In the West Bank, a Palestinian worker in Mod’in Ilit settlement, angry over Israel’s war on Gaza, stabs, wounds 4 Jewish settlers before being shot and wounded by a paramedic who arrives on the scene. The IDF fires live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets, percussion grenades, tear gas at Palestinians demonstrating against OCL in al-Fawar r.c. nr. Hebron, wounding 3 (including teenagers ages 13, 14); makes simultaneous afternoon incursions into Beita and Hawara villages nr. Nablus, imposing curfews through 12/31; conducts simultaneous late-night raids, house searches on 4 villages nr. Jenin, firing on residential areas in all cases, causing no injuries and arresting only 1 teenager; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Abu Dis and Jalazun r.c. nr. Ramallah, and nr. Bethlehem, Hebron, Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarm. (PCHR, WJW 1/1)

The 2 FGM boats that sailed into Gaza on 8/23 depart Gaza for Cyprus (unimpeded by the Israeli navy) carrying 9 Gazans (mostly students with valid visas to study abroad and a family seeking medical treatment for their 10-yr.-old son) who had been unable to get Israeli permission to leave the Strip; to make space on the boats for the 9 Gazans, 9 FGM activists remain in Gaza. In the West Bank, the IDF sends undercover units into Nablus in cars bearing Palestinian license plates to raid an auto supply store, arresting 1 Palestinian; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international peace activists taking part in a nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in Ni‘lin, injuring 11 (including 8 children, ages 12–16); conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Jenin, Nablus. (OCHA 9/3; PCHR 9/4)

Abbas begins a 2-day visit to Beirut for talks with Lebanese leaders regarding the status of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. (BBC 8/28)

Overnight in Gaza, the IDF sends troops into al-Fukhari nr. Khan Yunis and nearby Shuka to raid and search homes, firing on armed Palestinians who confront them, wounding 2 civilians, 1 armed Palestinian. Troops withdraw to Israel early in the morning. The Israeli navy detains 6 Palestinian fishing off the Rafah coast, questions and releases 16 fishermen. Palestinians fire a rocket toward Israel, but it lands inside Gaza, hitting a home e. of Gaza City, injuring a mother, 2 children. Egyptian border police find a cache of more than 1,000 lbs of explosives, including mortars and rockets, on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border. Overnight in the West Bank, the IDF sends troops into Qabatya to raid and search homes, 2 schools, a mosque, confiscating money and computers, arresting 10 Palestinians; before withdrawing in late morning, troops fire tear gas at children heading to school, injuring 10. The IDF also conducts daytime arrest raids nr. Qalqilya; fires tear gas at Palestinians demonstrating against the separation wall in Ni‘lin (pop. 5,000) nr. Ramallah, causing no injuries; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Nablus, in Qalqilya, and nr. Bethlehem, Hebron. (NYT, OCHA 5/28; PCHR 5/29)