Outside Gush Katif settlement, 3 Islamic Jihad mbrs. detonate a car bomb nr. an IDF checkpoint, killing themselves, lightly injuring 4 IDF soldiers; soldiers open fire on Palestinians waiting to cross the checkpoint, wounding 2. The IDF demolishes 8 Palestinian homes in Rafah; conducts arrest raids in East Jerusalem; fires on residential areas of Abasan, Khan Yunis, Rafah, Tulkarm. (HA, REU 2/9; HA, NYT, WT 2/10; VOI 2/10 in WNC 2/11; PCHR 2/20)
Israeli pres. Moshe Katsav formally invites Sharon to form a coalition government. Sharon accepts saying that “The new government will have to complete the campaign against terror, remove the terrorist leadership, and create the conditions for the emergence of a new Palestinian leadership with which it will be possible to make real peace.” (WT 2/10)