IDF war planes fire 3 missiles at a building and a car in Gaza City, assassinating 3 senior AMB mbrs., wounding 3 bystanders; fire 7 missiles at the entrance to Bayt Hanun in n. Gaza, destroying a bridge and damaging several homes. The IDF also confiscates 279 d. of Palestinian land nr. Qalqilya for construction of the separation wall; conducts arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron, Nablus, Tulkarm. Nr. Hebron, 4 rock-wielding Jewish settlers beat an 11-yr.-old Palestinian boy. Palestinians continue to protest the Danish cartoons (see 2/2), burning tires outside and throwing rocks at EU offices in Gaza. In ongoing Hamas-PA disputes in Gaza (see 2/1–3), suspected Hamas gunmen kidnap Force 17 officer Walid Kanaan and his wife, quickly releasing the wife. (AFP, IMEMC 2/4; HA, IMEMC, WP, WT 2/5; PCHR 2/9)
Saturday, February 4, 2006