The Palestine Chronology

For the 10th day in a row, IDF troops stationed along Gaza’s border open fire on Palestinian protesters, injuring 1 e. of al-Bureij r.c. Separately, off the coast nr. Khan Yunis and twice nr. Bayt Lahiya, Israeli naval forces open fire on Palestinian fishing boats, causing no damage or injuries. (HA, MNA, WAFA 10/18; PCHR 10/22)

Stabbing and small-scale attacks continue amid the ongoing wave of violence in Israel and the oPt. In s. Israel, Israeli police shoot and kill a bedouin Palestinian in Beersheba after he grabs a soldier’s gun and opens fire on a crowd at the city’s central bus station, killing 1 soldier and injuring 11 Israeli civilians. During the attack, an Israeli security guard shoots an Eritrean asylum seeker, allegedly misidentifying him as the shooter, then a group of Israeli civilians assault the man, seriously injuring him (he succumbs to his injuries later in the day). (HA, JP, MNA, WAFA, YA 10/18; EI 10/19; PCHR 10/22)

Throughout the day in the West Bank, IDF troops clash with and violently disperse Palestinian protesters across 5 areas in the region, injuring at least 7 Palestinians. IDF troops fire tear gas canisters into a secondary school in Jenin, causing no serious injuries; conduct house searches, raids, and patrols in 8 areas across the West Bank, arresting 11 Palestinians and issuing arrest summons to 2. Israeli settlers attempt to kidnap 2 Palestinians in a village nr. Nablus; throw stones at Palestinian homes in e. Hebron, causing no serious damage. Early in the morning, around 30 Israeli settlers attempt to pray at Joseph’s Tomb nr. Nablus, sparking minor clashes with stone-throwing Palestinians and the PASF; 5 settlers are arrested. In East Jerusalem, an elderly Palestinian woman dies of complications related to tear gas inhalation, which she suffered during clashes nr. her home in Issawiyya earlier in the week. Her family was driving her to the hospital at the time of her death, but they were delayed at an Israeli mobile checkpoint. The Israeli police will say that the family’s vehicle was only detained briefly. Israeli forces begin installing a planned 300 m concrete wall to separate Jabal Mukabir from the nearby Israeli settlement East Talpiot; assault 3 Palestinians and arrest 1 at a checkpoint in Silwan; arrest 7 Palestinians on late-night raids in Sur al-Bahir and al-Thawri. (HA, JP, MNA, NYT, TOI, WAFA, YA 10/18; HA, JP, MNA, WAFA 10/19; EI 10/20; PCHR 10/22)

Israeli PM Netanyahu says that Israel rejects France’s rumored proposal for international observers to be deployed at Haram al-Sharif, responding to the 10/17 reports in French press. (HA, JP 10/18)

Israel’s security cabinet authorizes the IDF to open phase 2 of OCL at its discretion by sending ground troops into Gaza “to destroy the terrorist infrastructure of the Hamas in the area of operation, while taking control of some of [sic] rocket launching area used by the Hamas”; authorizes the call-up of 10,000s of additional reservists. The IDF does not immediately take action.

Israeli action: The IDF continues air strikes and naval bombardment of Gaza, carrying out 65 air strikes and hitting 65 individual sites. Target areas include al-Atatra, Bayt Lahiya, Dahaniyya, Dayr al-Balah, Gaza City (Shaykh Ridwan, al-Shuja‘iyya, Tal al-Hawa, al-Yarmuk), Jabaliya, Khan Yunis, Nussayrat, Rafah, Tal al-Za‘atar. Primary targets include the homes of more than 12 senior Hamas officials (including senior IQB official Imad Akel, who reportedly is killed along with 3 children nearby; and Haniyeh’s chief of staff Muhammad Madhun and fmr. PA Refugee Affairs M Atif Udwan, who are believed to be in hiding); a car carrying Hamas’s Gaza City military cmdr. Muhammad (Abu Zakariya) al-Jamal, assassinating him; the Rafah airport site (already heavily damaged by yrs. of IDF attacks); the American International School in al-Atatra in n. Gaza; a public works dept. building southwest of Gaza City; tunnels on the Rafah border; and suspected weapons depots across Gaza. The estimated Palestinian toll reaches 431 killed, more than 2,200 injured.

Palestinian actions: Palestinians fire 26 rockets and 5 mortars into Israel, including 10 rockets that strike nr. Ashqelon, 1 of which causes damage and lightly injures 2 Israelis.

Humanitarian notes: The IDF escorts 226 foreigners who opt to leave Gaza to the Allenby Bridge crossing into Jordan; allows 64 truckloads of humanitarian goods into the Strip.

Of note: By this date, nearly all of Gaza’s police stations and government buildings have been destroyed. One senior Israeli security official states that “All of the offices and databases are gone. When all this is over, no civil servant will have an office to sit in.” (HA, IDF, IFM, ITV 1/2; AFP, AP, HA, IDF, Nation, NYT, REU, WP, WT, YA 1/3; Adalah 1/4; IFM, JP, PCHR 1/8; WT 1/22; JPI 1/23)

In the West Bank, the IDF fires rubber-coated steel bullets, percussion grenades, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists taking part in weekly nonviolent protests against the separation wall in Bil‘in (injuring 5 Palestinians), Ni‘lin (wounding 1 Israeli, 3 Palestinians), and Jayyus (injuring 3 Palestinians; 1 is hit with live ammunition). In Jerusalem, 100s of Palestinians clash with Israeli police after Friday prayers. Small demonstrations against OCL are reported in East Jerusalem and across the West Bank (including Bani Na‘im nr. Hebron, Bethlehem, Hebron, Issawiyya, Ramallah, Shu‘fat r.c.). IDF troops shoot at protesters in Bani Na‘im, wounding 5. The PASF breaks up large rallies against OCL in Hebron and Ramallah, firing tear gas at demonstrators, ripping up pro-Hamas placards and flags, beating and arresting suspected Hamas supporters, injuring at least 10 Palestinians. (HA, NYT, REU, WP, WT, YA 1/3; PCHR 1/8)