The Palestine Chronology

In the West Bank, 1 Israeli settler shot and killed 1 Palestinian man after he had stabbed and injured 1 other Israeli settler with a screwdriver in a bus near the Efrat settlement south of Bethlehem. Israeli settlers threw an incendiary device at 1 Palestinian minor in Jinba, causing burns to his face and hands. Elsewhere, Israeli settlers attacked 1 Palestinian herder near Fasayil, throwing stones and releasing a dog on him, causing injuries. Israeli forces shot and killed 2 Palestinians and injured 14 others during a daytime arrest raid in Jenin refugee camp. Israel said that the arrest raid was related to the attack on 3/29 in Bnei Brak in which 5 were killed; 31 were arrested during the raid. PA president Mahmoud Abbas condemned the raid, saying Israel wants to escalate tensions ahead of the start of Ramadan. During the raid, Palestinian patients at a nearby hospital suffered tear-gas related injuries. 24 Palestinians were arrested during late-night raids in Aida refugee camp, Bayt Jala, Husan, al-Ubeidiya, Wadi Abu Freiha, Hebron, al-Ramadin, Dura, Qalandia refugee camp, al-Zawiya, Salem, al-Far‘a refugee camp, Jenin, Ya‘bad, Nabi Elias, and Azzun. In East Jerusalem, far-right Israeli MK Itamar Ben-Gvir toured the Haram al-Sharif compound. The Joint List party and PA president Mahmoud Abbas criticized the Israeli government for allowing Ben-Gvir to tour the compound. In Gaza, Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinian farmlands east of Abasan; no injuries were reported. Off the coast of Gaza, Israeli naval forces opened fire on Palestinian fishermen; no injuries were reported. (AJ, HA, HA, HA, HA, MEE, MEE, PCHR, REU, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 3/31; WAFA 4/1; HA 4/2; MEMO 4/5; PCHR 4/7; UNOCHA 4/10)

During a regular security briefing to the Knesset, IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz says that Israel may need to strike Gaza if rocket fire continues, stating that Israel would initiate an operation before it would allow itself to be “dragged into” one. Later in the day, unidentified Palestinians fire 2 rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, damaging an empty kindergarten but causing no injuries. Late at night, the IDF carries out 2 air strikes (warplane and drone) targeting a smuggling tunnel on the Rafah border and a group of armed Palestinians nr. Jabaliya, causing no injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes 4 Palestinian homes n. of Jericho; patrols in al-Bireh and 3 villages nr. Ramallah during the day; conducts late-night house searches nr. Nablus, confiscating computers but making no arrests. Taking inspiration from the U.S. civil rights movement of the 1960s, 6 Palestinian peace activists, dubbed the Freedom Riders, board an Israeli commuter bus linking the West Bank Jewish settlements with Jerusalem and are arrested at an IDF checkpoint outside the city. The Israeli Housing Min. launches a major advertising campaign selling 277 subsidized apartments in Ariel settlement nr. Salfit, 743 in Ramot and 130 in Har Homa settlement in Jerusalem, and 164 in Mod’in nr. Ramallah, as well as leasing 213 plots of land zoned for construction in Efrat settlement nr. Bethlehem, 207 in Mod’in, 168 in Har Homa, and 18 in Pisgat Ze’ev in Jerusalem. (JP, WP 11/16; PCHR 11/17; OCHA 11/18)