The Israeli High Court rejects a petition by human rights groups challenging the legality of fuel cuts to Gaza on the grounds that Israel, as occupier, is not meeting is obligations to Gazans. Overnight in Gaza, the IDF sends troops, bulldozers into Khan Yunis to search homes and offices, demolish 3 Palestinian homes, bulldoze 7 d. of land; troops also fire on residential areas, wounding 1 Palestinian. During the day, the IDF fires a missile from a drone, hitting a Palestinian house in Khan Yunis, killing a 4-yr.-old Palestinian girl, injuring her mother. Hamas mbrs. fire 3 mortars into Israel, hitting a factory in Nir Oz, killing 1 Israeli, wounding 2. Late in the evening, the IDF makes an air strike on a Palestinian police station nr. Bayt Lahiya, destroying the building, wounding 2 police officers, 3 children nearby (ages 1, 6, 13); makes an air strike on a workshop in Gaza City, causing damage but no injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts morning arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron, firing on stone-throwing youths who confront them, wounding 4 Palestinians (including 2 women, 1 child who were bystanders); conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron. In Hebron, mbrs. of disputing Palestinian clans exchange fire in an area nr. a Jewish settlement; IDF soldiers protecting the settlement fire on the group, killing 1 Palestinian, wounding 2. Also in Hebron, Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba attack and vandalize nearby Palestinian homes, beating a Palestinian teenager. In Gaza, a bomb explodes outside the home of Hamas’s Gaza security chief Said Siyam, causing damage but no injuries. (NYT, WP, WT 6/6; OCHA 6/11; PCHR 6/12)
Thursday, June 5, 2008