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  • February 25, 2015

    In Gaza, IDF troops e. of Dayr al-Balah fire warning shots at farmers approaching the border fence, causing no injuries or damage. In the West Bank, IDF troops on a patrol clash with stone-...

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  • June 14, 2012

    Israeli naval vessels fire warning shots at Palestinian fishing boats off the n. Gaza coast, forcing them to return to shore. IDF troops make a brief incursion into Khuza village in s. Gaza,...

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  • January 19, 2009

    The Gaza cease-fire holds, with no Israeli or Palestinian violence reported. Israeli officials say the IDF has accelerated its withdrawal fr. Gaza in hopes that it will be completed by the time U....

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  • November 15, 2008

    As the quarter closes, Israel maintains its ban on all Gaza imports including fuel, medicine, basic foodstuffs, and currency for banks. As a result, 1.5 m. Gazans are without regular electricity,...

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In Gaza, IDF troops e. of Dayr al-Balah fire warning shots at farmers approaching the border fence, causing no injuries or damage. In the West Bank, IDF troops on a patrol clash with stone-throwing Palestinians nr. Bethlehem, causing several to suffer from tear gas inhalation. They also arrest a Palestinian during a patrol in c. Hebron, a Palestinian with a mental disability outside Jenin, and a Palestinian woman at a checkpoint nr. Jenin. Israeli forces install iron gates at a major checkpoint nr. Bethlehem; demolish a water well nr. Hebron.Israeli settlers uproot 100 olive saplings in Hebron. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces detain 4 Palestinian women as they are leaving Haram al-Sharif. An Israeli settlement security guard hits a Palestinian girl with his car in Silwan, moderately injuring her. (MNA, WAFA 2/25; MNA, PCHR 2/26)

For the 2d time in a week, the state-owned IEC cuts electricity to the Nablus and Jenin districts of the West Bank for 1 hour, due to the Palestinians’ unpaid debts. The IEC warns that, without payment, it will continue with these cuts. (HA, MNA, WAFA 2/25; WAFA 2/26)

Senior PA official Shaath tells the Turkish Anadolu Agency that the PA recently requested that the EU reactivate their revolving fund agreement and provide loans equal to the amount of funds that Israel is freezing in transfers of tax revenues. They signed the agreement in 1995 and activated it twice before, in 1995 and from 1998 to 2001. (MEMO 2/25)

The EU and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announce the completion of the 1st of 4 components of a €10 m. desalinization project—18 km of pipeline— that is set to provide potable water to over 75,000 people in Gaza. (EU press release, WAFA 2/25)

Israeli PM Netanyahu says that he still intends to address the U.S. Congress on 3/3, despite increasingly urgent protests from the Obama admin. (AFP, AM, HA, TOI, YA 2/25)

Israeli naval vessels fire warning shots at Palestinian fishing boats off the n. Gaza coast, forcing them to return to shore. IDF troops make a brief incursion into Khuza village in s. Gaza, firing on residential areas (causing no injuries), demolishing a house under construction, and leveling 5 d. of agricultural land. Late at night, IDF troops on the s. Gaza border fire several artillery shells at armed Palestinians operating nr. the border e. of Khan Yunis, wounding 2. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts synchronized patrols in 4 villages nr. Jenin in the morning. Other IDF patrols are conducted in Tulkarm, 2 villages nr. Qalqilya, and 1 nr. Ramallah in the morning; in 1 village nr. Tulkarm in the afternoon; and in 1 village nr. Qalqilya in the evening. The IDF also conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Ramallah; 1 of the Palestinians arrested was released during the 2011 prisoner swap that freed captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. (PCHR 6/21; OCHA 6/22)

On the 5th anniversary of Israel’s sealing of Gaza’s borders after Hamas’s 2007 takeover, 50 international aid groups and UN agencies (including UNICEF and the WHO) sign a petition urging Israel to lift the siege of Gaza. The petition reads in full: ‘‘For over five years in Gaza, more than 1.6 million people have been under blockade in violation of international law. More than half of these people are children. We the undersigned say with one voice: end the blockade now.’’ (OCHA 6/14; MNA, NYT 6/15)

The Gaza cease-fire holds, with no Israeli or Palestinian violence reported. Israeli officials say the IDF has accelerated its withdrawal fr. Gaza in hopes that it will be completed by the time U.S. pres.-elect Barack Obama is sworn in on 1/20. Across Gaza, some stores reopen, and traffic along the main north–south route (occupied by the IDF during the war) resumes, though observers say (WP 1/20) that “much of the main highway was nearly impassable from the dirt and debris plowed up by Israel’s military”; Hamas-led police provide traffic control in damaged areas and generally try to assert a presence. Israel allows a small group of foreign reporters into Gaza and permits them to interview Palestinians, but requires them to team report as a pool and runs their coverage through IDF censors, given the continued presence of Israeli soldiers in the field. Israel for the first time since 12/27 allows a few truckloads of commercial goods into Gaza in addition to humanitarian aid; in total, 208 truckloads are allowed entry. Rescue workers continue searching for survivors and uncovering bodies (at least 14 today), particularly in al-Zaytun. (AY, DUS, MM, YA 1/19; NYT, WP, WT 1/20; DUS, al-Hayat, JP, MM, QA 1/21; NYT, PCHR, UNICEF press release, WT 1/22; PCHR 1/29; AP 1/30; WT 2/4; WP 2/8; Electronic Intifada 2/24)

The IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron, Jenin, Nablus; issues military orders confiscating 3,000 dunams (d.; 4 d. = 1 acre) of land in Yatta s. of Hebron and 13 d. nr. Bethlehem for settlement expansion, and 500 d. of land in Abu Dis for construction of the separation wall around Jerusalem. A Jewish settler driving nr. Ramallah is shot, seriously wounded fr. a passing car. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces evict a family (18 mbrs.) and seal their home in Jabal al-Mukabir, where Israelis are expanding a Jewish settlement. (HA, NYT 1/20; MM 1/21; PCHR 1/22)

As the quarter closes, Israel maintains its ban on all Gaza imports including fuel, medicine, basic foodstuffs, and currency for banks. As a result, 1.5 m. Gazans are without regular electricity, no Gazan households have daily running water (20% of households receive 6 hrs. of water/5 days, 40% receive 6 hrs. water/4 days, 40% receive 6 hrs. water/3 days), bread is being rationed due to lack of grain, and shortages of milk, red meat, and fresh produce are widespread. UNICEF reports that the Israeli government has been holding 2 shipments of vaccines for Gazan children at Ben-Gurion airport since 10/29. The WHO reports that the stock of 95 of 473 drugs it classifies as “essential” for hospitals and clinics to have on hand and 174 other medical supplies are at zero levels in the Strip. UN Secy.-Gen. Ban Ki-moon calls on Israel to open crossings into Gaza for fuel, food, and humanitarian aid, stating that measures that increase the suffering of Gaza’s civilians “are unacceptable and should cease immediately.” The UN reports that Palestinians have fired some 140 rockets and mortars toward Israel since 11/4, injuring 1 Israeli and causing property damage in 1 incident on 11/14. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Jenin town and r.c. (WT 11/15, 11/16; OCHA 11/17, 11/19; PCHR 11/20)