The Israeli human rights group Peace Now estimates that Jewish settlers have started work on 600 settlement housing units in at least 36 settlements since the freeze ended on 9/26. At least half of the construction is to lay foundations for new houses—a priority for settlers in anticipation of reimposition of the temporary settlement freeze, which allowed construction to continue on units that already had their foundations poured. (NYT, WP 10/22)
Egypt allows an aid convoy of 140 vans to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing; the humanitarian goods were provided by London-based pro-Palestinian activists. Unidentified Palestinians fire a mortar fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. IDF troops on the Israeli side of the Erez crossing fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging for construction materials inside the destroyed industrial zone, wounding 2. IDF troops also enter Gaza briefly to retrieve an unmanned Israeli drone that crashed nr. the northern border. In the West Bank, the IDF patrols without incident in villages nr. Jericho, Ramallah, Tulkarm; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron. Palestinians report (PCHR 10/21) that in the previous week: (a) the IDF confiscated 130 d. of Palestinian agricultural land nr. Qalqilya for construction of a “security road” past Keddumim settlement, and (b) Jewish settlers seized and leveled 100 d. of Palestinian agricultural land located between the separation wall and the Green Line, accessible to the Palestinian owners only through a gate in the fence that the IDF opens only occasionally. In East Jerusalem, Israeli police raid and search a Palestinian clothing store. (AFP, JP, PCHR 10/21; NYT 10/22; PCHR 10/28; OCHA 10/29)