August 7, 2007

In Gaza, 2 Palestinian children (ages 7, 9) are killed nr. Bayt Lahiya when a Palestinian rocket fired toward Israel explodes prematurely. Some 3,000 IDF soldiers and border police forcibly remove 2 Jewish settler families, 100s of settler activists squatting in vacant Palestinian stores in Hebron’s wholesale market (see 8/5, 8/6); 12 IDF soldiers refuse to take part in the evacuation and are sentenced to 14–28 days military detention; during the eviction, settlers set fire to a Palestinian shop. (HA, NYT, OCHA, WP, WT 8/8; PCHR 8/9)