The Palestine Chronology

In Gaza, the IDF closes the Nahal Oz pipeline, Qarni crossing for the day; makes an air strike on a group of PRC mbrs. n. of Gaza City, killing 2 PRC mbrs., a 3- yr.-old girl in a house nearby, wounding 2 PRC mbrs.; makes air strikes destroying the home of an Islamic Jihad mbr. in Bayt Hanun, a 2d home elsewhere in Gaza (warning residents to leave beforehand). A Palestinian is killed in Jabaliya r.c. when he accidentally detonates unexploded IDF ordnance. In the West Bank, the IDF also makes air strikes on a house in Jenin r.c., assassinating Islamic Jihad mbrs. Amjad al-‘Ajami, Muhammad Atik, wounding 12 bystanders (including 7 children); conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Hebron and Jenin, in Nablus, nr. Tulkarm (targeting PA security force mbrs.). (BBC, REU 8/9; PCHR 8/10; OCHA 8/16; PCHR 8/17)

The Israeli security cabinet approves plans to expand ground operations in s. Lebanon, speed IDF deployment to the Litani River. The IDF immediately begins reinforcing troops on the n. Israel border (anticipating a build-up of as many as 5,000 troops) and moves an additional 1,000 troops into s. Lebanon. The IDF continues air, naval, and artillery strikes across Lebanon, shelling ‘Ayn al-Hilwa r.c. (allegedly targeting the home of a Hizballah mbr., killing at least 2 persons, wounding 5), making an air strike on an apartment in Mashghara in the Biqa‘ Valley just n. of the Litani (killing a Hizballah official, 8 family mbrs.), hitting targets in s. Beirut. Ground operations also continue in s. Lebanon, with heavy clashes reported in Aita al-Sha‘b (4 IDF soldiers killed), Bint Jubayl, Dibil (9 IDF soldiers killed), Labuna, Jibbayn, al-Khiyam, Marja’uyun (1 IDF solider killed), Qantara, Taybeh, resulting in Israel’s highest daily toll to date, with 15 IDF soldiers dead and 38 wounded; the IDF claims to have killed 40 Hizballah mbrs. Hizballah fires some 170 rockets into n. Israel, hitting targets in Acre, Kiryat Shimona, Ma’alot, Safad. (BBC, HA, IFM, NYT, WP 8/9; NYT, WP, WT 8/10)

In the West Bank, the IDF sends undercover units into Azun in a car with Palestinian license plates, surrounds a home, arrests 1 PSF mbr. who surrenders; conducts random ID checks in, fires on residential areas of Kafr Dan nr. Jenin; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Jenin and Nablus, in Dahaysha r.c., nr. Bethlehem, Hebron; burns 70 d. of agricultural land btwn. the separation wall and the Green Line nr. Tulkarm (see 8/5). In Ramallah, 7 Palestinians working in the PC building are taken to the hospital with breathing difficulties after opening a suspicious letter addressed to PM Haniyeh; the building is evacuated. The PA head of military intelligence for n. Gaza dies of injuries received in an ambush in Jabaliya r.c. on 8/6; no group claims responsibility. (AP 8/7; WP 8/8; OCHA 8/9; PCHR 8/10)

Overnight, the IDF destroys the last remaining bridge over the Litani River linking n. and s. Lebanon; this cuts off access to Tyre. The IDF announces a 10:00 P.M. curfew on Tyre, saying that any movement there after dark and any vehicular traffic s. of the Litani River at any time will henceforth be considered Hizballah activity and a legitimate target. As UN mbrs. narrow differences on a cease-fire res., Olmert’s security cabinet discusses speeding up the IDF’s advance to the Litani River, escalating attacks on Lebanon’s civilian infrastructure. During the day, the IDF continues heavy air, artillery strikes on some 150 targets across Lebanon, hitting s. Beirut (including 47 killed, 70 wounded in the Christian-Shi‘i suburb of al-Shiyah, where Shi‘a are pro-Amal), the Biqa‘ Valley (including Baalbek, Masnaa), in and around Nabatiyya (including 7 civilians killed in air strikes on cars traveling in Qasmiyya; 15 killed, 20 wounded in an air strike on an apartment building in Ghaziyya), and across s. Lebanon (including demolishing a 4-building apartment complex in Tyre), killing at least 69 Lebanese civilians; continues ground operations across s. Lebanon that leave 3 IDF soldiers dead, 7 wounded in Bint Jubayl and include heavy fighting in Hula (the IDF claims to kill at least 15 Hizballah mbrs.); downs an unmanned Hizballah drone off the s. Lebanon coast. Hizballah fires 130 rockets into n. Israel, injuring 10 Israelis, hitting targets in Acre, Carmiel, Kiryat Shimona (70 rockets), Ma’alot, Nahariya, Safad. The ICRC says that the IDF has barred humanitarian aid missions to the south for 3 days. (BBC, NYT, WP 8/7; BBC, NYT, WP, WT 8/8; WP, WT 8/9; WP 8/10)