The Palestine Chronology

Overnight, the IDF sends another 15–20 tanks and armored personnel carriers (APCs) into Bayt Hanun and into the Erez industrial zone, leveling land to clear lines of sight, searching for roadside bombs and tunnels that could obstruct a large-scale military incursion into Gaza (as PA security forces pull out of their border positions at Erez, Palestinians stream into the industrial zone to scavenge fr. closed businesses there); continues to break the sound barrier over Gaza and to make air and artillery strikes on n. Gaza, killing 1 PA security officer, wounding several Palestinians, and destroying an empty building on Islamic University campus. During the day, the IDF continues the n. Gaza build-up, reoccupying the fmr. Nisanit settlement site, occupying 2 more Palestinian homes as operational bases, bulldozing a PA security force base in Bayt Hanun; fires on residential areas around Erez (wounding a Palestinian child) and on a Palestinian Energy Authority repair crew attempting to fix a transformer in the area. The IDF also allows Qarni crossing to reopen for several hrs. to import humanitarian supplies from the World Food Program (WFP) and UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East); WFP reports that there are only 2 days left of sugar and 8 days left of animal feed in Gaza and that milk and dairy products are only available in small quantities. Meanwhile, the Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades fire a 2-engine Qassam rocket fr. Gaza into Israel, hitting an empty school nr. Ashqelon, 7.5 mi inside Israel (the longest-range rocket to date). In the West Bank, the IDF raids Jenin, ambushes and fires on a car, assassinating wanted AMB Jenin cmdr. Fida’i Qandil, wounding a passenger; raids a PA police station in Ramallah, detaining 3 Palestinians captured by the PA in connection with the murder of a Jewish settler on 6/29; arrests Hamas spokesman Farhat Asad nr. Ramallah; patrols in, fires on residential areas of al-Fara‘a r.c. nr. Jenin, wounding 2 Palestinians; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Ramallah, in Nablus and Qalqilya, and nr. Bethlehem, Hebron. Jewish settlers fr. Mehola nr. Tubas attack Palestinian farmers working their fields nearby. (HA, IMEMC, MM, NYT, OCHA, PCHR, WT, YA 7/4; NYT, WP, WT 7/5; OCHA, PCHR 7/6)

The IDF opens Gaza’s Sufa commercial crossing (closed since 5/17); shells Bayt Hanun, Bayt Lahiya, injuring a 12-yr.-old Palestinian; sends troops into Hebron to surround the Polytechnic University campus, firing percussion grenades, tear gas and arresting 7 students; sends undercover units into Tamun nr. Jenin in a car with Palestinian license plates to arrest 3 Palestinians; sends troops into Tubas nr. Jenin, firing on stonethrowing youths who confront them; patrols in, fires on residential areas of Nablus; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Tulkarm and nr. Hebron, Jenin, Nablus. Israeli DM Amir Peretz authorizes the expansion of the “jurisdictional area” of 4 West Bank Jewish settlements, often the prelude to construction of new settlement neighborhoods: Givat Ze’ev nr. Jerusalem (to be expanded by 60 dunum [d.; 4 d. = 1 acre].); Beitar Ilit nr. Bethlehem (to be expanded by 400 d.); Oranit, just over the Green Line nr. Kefar Saba; Maskiyot, in the Jordan Valley, where Israel plans to relocate the 40 settlers evacuated fr. Shirat Hayam settlement in Gaza. Jewish settlers fr. Ma’on nr. Hebron attack Palestinian school children being escorted to school by the IDF, injuring 2. PA security forces find, dismantle a 150-lb roadside bomb planted along the motorcade route of Internal Security Service dir. gen. Rashid Abu Shibak, who was appointed by Abbas to the new position on 4/6 in a bid to wrest control of the security forces away fr. Interior M Siyam; no group takes responsibility, but Fatah officials hint that Hamas is to blame, note that the PRCs have previously fired on his home. In reaction, 100s of Fatah mbrs. rally in Gaza City in support of the PA security forces, offering to volunteer their services to counterbalance Siyam’s new volunteer force. Overnight, a previously unknown group calling itself the al-Qa‘ida Organization of the State of Palestine claims responsibility for the 5/20 attack on Abu Rajab in a statement on the Internet. (MM, NYT 5/22; OCHA 5/24; see also MA 5/20 in WNC 5/21; PCHR, PNN 5/25)