The Palestine Chronology

The IDF continues operations in Rafah and al-Shuka, firing on and shelling residential areas, conducting house-to-house searches, forcing some 400 Palestinian families to flee their homes, killing 1 Palestinian civilian, wounding at least 13 civilians. The IDF also shells areas around Bayt Hanun, wounding at least 2 Palestinians; fires across the border fr. Israel at Palestinian farmers working their land nr. al-Maghazi r.c., wounding 1. In the West Bank, the IDF arrests PA parliament speaker ‘Aziz Dwayk (Change and Reform) in his Ramallah home on charges of being a mbr. of a terrorist organization (Hamas); conducts random ID checks in Dahaysha r.c. (firing on stone-throwing Palestinians who confront them, wounding 2), Tubas; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Bethlehem, Jenin town and r.c., Nablus; burns 30 d. of agricultural land btwn. the separation wall and the Green Line nr. Tulkarm, barring fire engines fr. reaching the scene. A Palestinian dies of injuries received in the 7/16 IDF air strike on the PA FMin. offices in Gaza City. (NYT, PCHR 8/5; NYT, WP, WT 8/6; NYT 8/7; PCHR 8/10)

Overnight, the IDF makes air strikes outside a Palestinian r.c. s. of Tyre, wounding 1 person, lands 2 naval commando units (reportedly wearing Lebanese army uniforms) nearby, raids an apartment building housing Hizballah mbrs. allegedly involved in long-range rocket attacks on Israel, clashing with Hizballah mbrs. for 3 hrs., killing 4 suspected Hizballah mbrs., 1 Lebanese soldier at a nearby checkpoint, 2 bystanders before withdrawing. During the day, the IDF continues air strikes, hitting 170 targets in s. Beirut, and n. of Hermel; drops leaflets over Sidon, warning residents to leave prior to imminent strikes there; continues ground operations in some 20 villages in s. Lebanon, leaving 2 IDF soldiers dead, at least 9 wounded in clashes in Aita al-Sha‘b, Taybeh. Hizballah fires 160 rockets into n. Israel (140 of them in a 90 min. period in the evening), killing 3 Israeli Palestinians in Arab al-Aramshe, also hitting targets in Haifa, Kiryat Shimona, Ma’alot, Nahariya, Safad, Shlomi, Tiberias, wounding a total of 54 Israelis. (NYT 8/5; NYT, WP, WT 8/6)

The IDF continues operations al-Shuka, making air and artillery strikes on buildings allegedly housing Hamas and Islamic Jihad weapons caches, exchanging fire with Palestinian gunmen, conducting house-tohouse searches, prompting residents to flee, leaving 2 Palestinian civilians, 1 Palestinian militant dead, at least 1 Palestinian wounded. Late in the evening, the IDF expands operations deeper into Rafah, making air strikes on militant targets in heavily residential areas, killing 1 Islamic Jihad mbr., 2 other armed Palestinians, a Palestinian woman and her 2 children, wounding at least 3 Palestinians; also destroys the remaining parts of a PA security barracks. Also in Gaza, the IDF makes an air strike destroying a home in Shatti r.c. nr. Gaza City after warning residents to evacuate. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids in Tulkarm town; patrols in Tulkarm r.c.; conducts random ID checks in Hebron. The IDF also bars Palestinians under age 45 fr. attending Friday prayers at al-Aqsa Mosque. (NYT 8/4; WP 8/5; PCHR 8/10)

The IDF calls up more reservists (no details reported), moves additional artillery to the border with Lebanon; escalates air strikes on s. Beirut (killing at least 1 Lebanese soldier, wounding 2 soldiers, 4 civilians), hitting bridges and roads in Christian areas n. of the capital along the coast for the 1st time (killing a least 5 Lebanese civilians, wounding 19; hitting an 8-truck UN convoy, preventing the movement of other aid convoys south); also strikes targets in s. Lebanon (flattening 2 houses, leaving 50 Lebanese missing) as well as in Baalbek, Hermel, Qana (killing at least 28 farm workers, mostly Syrian Kurds) in the Biqa‘ Valley. Ground operations in s. Lebanon continue, with especially intense fighting in Aita al-Sha‘b, Markaba (where at least 3 IDF soldiers are killed and 1 tank is destroyed), Taybeh. Hizballah fires 195 rockets into n. Israel, hitting Buaineh, Carmiel, Hadera (50 mi. fr. the border, the deepest strike to date), Kiryat Shimona (hit by 60 missiles), Ma’alot, Migdal Hamek, Nahariya, Qunaytra, Safad, Shar Yishuv; killing 4 Israelis (including 3 Druze; 1 in Maghir, 2 in Majd al-Krum) wounding 8. (AP, NYT 8/4; NYT, WP, WT 8/5)

Overnight, the IDF launches ground operations in al-Shuka, using helicopters, drones, and some 50 tanks, armored vehicles, bulldozers; seals off Dahaniyya airport, the eastern entrance to Rafah, the main north–south Gaza highway; makes heavy air and artillery strikes on residential areas throughout the day, with Palestinian militants retaliating with antitank and light weapons fire, leaving 2 Hamas mbrs., 2 Islamic Jihad mbrs., 1 PA security officer, 5 bystanders dead and more than 30 Palestinians wounded (including at least 8 militants, 18 civilians). Palestinians fire 4 rockets toward Israel, but all land inside Gaza, causing no damage or injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Qalqilya and in ‘Ayn alSultan r.c. nr Jericho, Balata r.c., Hebron, Nablus. (NYT, PCHR, WP, WT 8/3; NYT, WP 8/4; PCHR 8/10)

The IDF operates in 20 villages in s. Lebanon, most of them less than 2 mi. inside the border, engaging in intense clashes with Hizballah (particularly in Bint Jubayl, Maroun al-Ras, Marwahin, Rajmin), with Hizballah killing 4 IDF soldiers, wounding 4, destroying at least 4 APCs in Aita al-Sha‘b and Taybeh. The IDF also continues air strikes across Lebanon, including in s. Beirut (hitting houses of senior Hizballah and Hamas mbrs.), Blat, Nabatiyya, Rashaya, Taybeh, in the Biqa‘ Valley, and in the far n. nr. the border with Syria. Hizballah fires around 180 rockets into n. Israel, killing 5 Israeli civilians in Acre and 3 bedouin in Tarshiha nr. Ma’alot (all 8 killed during a 1- hr. barrage of 40 rockets), also hitting Kiryat Shimona (in another barrage of 30 rockets). (BBC, JAZ, NYT 8/3; AP, NYT, WP, WT 8/4)