The Palestine Chronology

Along Gaza’s border, Israeli forces conduct a limited incursion to level land nr. Khuza‘a, and open fire on Palestinian agricultural fields nearby. Meanwhile, IDF troops violently disperse Palestinians protesting along the border fence nr. Gaza City and Rafah; 1 Palestinian is injured. Seven more Palestinians are injured when an unidentified piece of unexploded ordnance detonates nr. Gaza City. In the West Bank, IDF troops arrest 6 Palestinians during late-night raids nr. Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron, and Nablus; and patrol nr. Hebron and Nablus. Israeli forces assault and seriously injure a Palestinian taxi driver nr. Nabi Salih. Palestinian youths throw stones at an IDF post nr. Ramallah, sparking minor clashes; 2 Palestinians are injured. In East Jerusalem, unidentified assailants vandalize a number of Palestinian vehicles and spray-paint one with price-tag graffiti s. of Shu‘fat. Israeli forces conduct raids in Issawiyya, sparking minor clashes with stonethrowing Palestinians; 1 Palestinian journalist is injured. They arrest 2 Palestinians on further raids in the Old City and Shu‘fat r.c. (MNA, WAFA 6/4; JP, MNA, WAFA 6/5; PCHR 6/8)

Hamas’s new 2d-in-command, Yahya Sinwar, leads a delegation to Egypt for talks on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the status of the Rafah border crossing. (AP 6/4)

IDF troops on the Gaza border e. of Khan Yunis fire warning shots at Palestinian farmers nr. the border fence, causing no injuries. A Palestinian is moderately injured when he triggers Israeli unexploded ordnance nr. Rafah. In the West Bank, IDF troops violently disperse over 1,000 Palestinians, mostly women, demonstrating nr. Qalandia to mark International Women’s Day, moderately injuring 4. They also violently disperse Palestinian activists as they are removing a metal gate installed at the entrance to a village nr. Bethlehem and a group protesting land expropriation in a village nr. Hebron. Israeli soldiers accompanied by Israeli settlers violently disperse Palestinians nonviolently protesting s. of Hebron. The IDF conducts patrols and house searches in a village nr. Hebron, arresting 2 Palestinians. The PASF raids Balata r.c. nr. Nablus, sparking a brief firefight with the wanted Palestinian; 2 bystanders are injured. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces conduct house searches and raids nr. the Old City, arresting 8 Palestinians; disperse a group of Palestinian youth throwing stones at the Jerusalem Light Rail in Shu‘fat, arresting 2. Israeli settlers assault a Palestinian man in Silwan, moderately injuring him. (AP, JP, MNA, WAFA 3/7; MNA 3/8; PCHR 3/12)

In Cairo, Islamic Jihad’s delegation departs after 6 days of negotiations with the Egyptian authorities on opening the Rafah border crossing. According to sources close to the talks, the Egyptians have agreed in principle to completely open the crossing once the violence in the Sinai Peninsula subsides, the PA unity govt. has staffed the crossing, and Hamas commits to not to interfere in Egyptian affairs. Also, Egyptian officials announce that the Rafah crossing will open on 3/9–10. (AFP, MNA 3/7)

In Paris, French FM Laurent Fabius, U.S. Secy. of State Kerry, UK Foreign Secy. Philip Hammond, German FM Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini meet to review recent progress in their negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. (TOI 3/6, 3/7; DPA 3/8)

Overnight, unidentified Palestinians fire 3 Qassam rockets and 1 manufactured Grad rocket fr. Gaza into Israel; the Qassams land harmlessly (1 inside Gaza, 2 in Israel), while the Grad strikes nr. a cattle farm, causing damage and injuring some livestock. In the afternoon, unidentified Palestinians fire 3 mortars into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. Later in the afternoon, the Popular Resistance Comms. (PRCs; an umbrella group comprising all Gaza factions) fire another 4 mortars into Israel containing white phosphorous scavenged fr. unexploded IDF ordnance (UXO), causing no damage or injuries. Israel files an official complaint with the UN over the serious escalation and retaliates in the evening with 4 air strikes in and around Bani Suhayla village s. of Khan Yunis, targeting and destroying an Islamic Jihad training site, 1 Palestinian home, and an agricultural storehouse, causing heavy collateral damage to another 2d home, and injuring 6 Palestinian civilians (including children ages 2 and 14). Late at night, 2 more air strikes destroy a smuggling tunnel on the Rafah border. Meanwhile, in the morning, IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging for construction materials in the abandoned settlement sites nr. the border, wounding 1. Late at night, IDF troops make an incursion 1,500 m into al-Shuka in s. Gaza, firing on residential areas to keep Palestinians in their homes, monitoring the area, and withdrawing after 3 hrs.; IDF troops on the s. Gaza border open heavy fire on the demolished Dahaniyya airport site, causing no reported injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Nablus. Palestinians (sometimes accompanied by Israeli and international activists) hold weekly nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall, land confiscations, and settlement expansion in Bil‘in, Ni‘lin, Nabi Salih/Dayr Nizam nr. Ramallah. IDF soldiers fire rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades at the protesters, leaving 5 Palestinians lightly injured (3 by tear gas canisters, 1 by a rubber-coated steel bullet) and 10s suffering tear gas inhalation. (JP, REU, YA 11/19; WP, YA 11/20; PCHR 11/25; OCHA 11/26)

Abbas, Netanyahu, Clinton, and Mitchell continue direct talks at Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, meeting for 2 hrs. They allow a joint photo opportunity but do not address the press. (WP 9/15; NYT, WP, WT 9/16; PCHR 9/23; OCHA 9/24)

Just as the Jerusalem talks begin, Gaza’s PRCs fire 1 rocket and 9 mortars fr. Gaza into Israel (the highest 1-day total since 3/09), causing no damage or injuries. Israeli police claim 2 of the mortars contained white phosphorous and that the rocket, which landed in Ashkelon, appeared to be a manufactured Grad type, rather than a homemade Qassam; the IDF, however, calls the rocket a Qassam. (Ashkelon is in range of both Qassams and Grads.) The Israeli daily Yedi’ot Aharonot (9/16) cites an unidentified mbr. of an unnamed Gaza militant group as confirming that 2 mortars contained white phosphorous taken from unexploded IDF ordnance (UXO) from Operation Cast Lead, saying the Gaza factions are experimenting with modifying Israeli UXO for use against Israel. The IDF retaliates with air strikes on a smuggling tunnel on the Rafah border (killing 1 Palestinian civilian, wounding 3), a factory n. of Khan Yunis (destroying it and damaging several surrounding homes, greenhouses, and businesses, but causing no reported injuries), and a vacant home southwest of Khan Yunis (destroying it). IDF troops also make a brief morning incursion 400 m. into s. Gaza e. of Khan Yunis to level land to clear lines of sight. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts separate synchronized late-night patrols in 2 villages e. of Qalqilya and 2 villages nr. Ramallah, making no arrests; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Hebron, nr. Jenin. (HA, JP, YA 9/15; CNN, JP, PCHR, WT, YA 9/16)

Israel allows 2,631 Palestinians to transit through the Rafah crossing (880 going into Egypt, 1,751 returning to Gaza). The UN reports that in the preceding wk., 2 Gazan boys (ages 8, 10) in al-Bureij r.c. were injured by UXO fr. OCL; 4 Palestinians were killed, 5 injured in tunnel collapses along the Rafah border. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night house searches in villages s. of Jenin, making no arrests; stages late-night arrest raids, house searches in Fasayil village n. of Jericho. A Hamas-affiliated PA prisoner dies in a Jordanian hospital, where he was transferred by the PASF on 6/30 with severe injuries apparently resulting fr. torture. (OCHA, PCHR 8/6, 8/13)

In Bethlehem, 2,325 delegates fr. the West Bank and 80 countries around the world open Fatah’s 6th General Conference in Bethlehem to vote on a new party platform and hold elections for party institutions for the 1st time in 20 yrs. (MM, alSharq al-Awsat 8/4; al-Ayyam, MM, MNA, NYT, WP 8/5; MNA 8/8; JPI 8/14)

Israeli naval vessels approach within 500 m of Rafah beach, arrest 2 fishermen on 1 of 12 small boats in the area. The UN reports that in the previous wk. an 8-yr.- old Palestinian boy in Gaza was injured by unexploded IDF ordnance (UXO); 7 Palestinians were killed in tunnel-related incidents (6 in collapses, 1 electrocuted); and unidentified Palestinians fired “several” rockets and mortars into Israel causing no damage or injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night patrols in 4 villages nr. Jenin; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Jenin town and r.c., Balata r.c., in Nablus, and nr. Bethlehem and Hebron. A Jewish settler violently beats a Palestinian woman waiting for a taxi nr. Zatara checkpoint outside Nablus; IDF soldiers manning the checkpoint observe the beating for 15 min. before intervening and ordering the settler to leave the area. (OCHA, PCHR 5/28)

Palestinians fire 2 rockets into Israel, causing no injuries. The IDF responds with air strikes on 5 smuggling tunnels on the Rafah border, wounding 3 Palestinians (2 of them young children). In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night house searches nr. Jenin, but makes no arrests. A Palestinian teenager is killed and 2 are wounded when they accidentally trigger IDF UXO at a site nr. Tubas used by the IDF for live fire exercises. Israel begins construction of 65 new housing units on 3.5 d. of Palestinian land in the Arab al-Sawahara neighborhood of East Jerusalem, expanding Talpiot settlement. (HA 2/26; NYT, WP 2/27; OCHA 3/3, 3/4; PCHR 3/5, 4/29)

U.S. envoy George Mitchell begins his 2d regional tour with planned stops in Turkey, Israel, Ramallah, and Cairo. He stresses U.S. support for a 2-state solution and a halt to Israel’s settlement construction. (IFM 2/26; NYT, WP 2/27)

As the quarter opens, Israel’s near total blockade of Gaza enters its 21st month, since Hamas’s takeover of Gaza in 6/07. Israel continues to bar exports fr. Gaza, strictly limit imports, and ban all but VIPs and emergency medical cases fr. transiting the border. Imports include limited commodities and enough staple goods and fuel for electricity, emergency services, and cooking to preclude a humanitarian crisis, but are insufficient to meet daily needs, adequately maintain basic services, or repair the heavy damage fr. Israel’s 23-day assault on Gaza, Operation Cast Lead (OCL), which ended on 1/18/09. Today, Palestinians fire 2 rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) respond with 2 air strikes on tunnels on the Rafah border, causing no injuries. In Bayt Lahiya, 1 Palestinian scavenging scrap metal is killed, 4 are injured when they accidentally trigger unexploded IDF ordnance (UXO). In the West Bank, the IDF bulldozes 20 olive trees on a plot of Palestinian land on the s. border of Ni‘lin, declaring it a closed military zone; conducts synchronized late-night arrest raids, house searches into Tulkarm, neighboring Nur Shams refugee camp (r.c.), and 5 nearby villages; conducts similar late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Bethlehem, Hebron; closes a gate in the separation wall nr. Dahiyat al-Barid (located btwn. the separation wall and the Green Line nr. Jerusalem), forcing villagers to travel 1–2 hrs. through the Qalandia crossing to access the rest of the West Bank. The Israeli government authorizes the confiscation of 1,700 dunams (d.; 4 d. = 1 acre) of Palestinian land in the villages of al-Ma‘sara, Umm Salamuna, and Wadi al-Nas nr. Bethlehem for expansion of Efrat and Gush Etzion settlements (2,500 new housing units, increasing the settler population there fr. 9,000 to 30,000). (Mideast Mirror 2/16; NYT, WP 2/17; OCHA 2/18; PCHR 2/19; OCHA 2/24)

Israeli naval vessels fire on Palestinian fishermen off the Bayt Lahiya coast, forcing them to return to shore. In the West Bank, the IDF blockades, imposes a round-theclock curfew on Ni‘lin nr. Ramallah in what the army calls an “open-ended effort to curb protests” against the separation wall (see 5/27); conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Tulkarm and in Jenin town and r.c. and Qabatya. Jewish settlers fr. Hebron attack, beat 4 Palestinian farmers; the IDF halts the attack only after international peace activists arrive. Jewish settlers fr. the unauthorized outpost of Asael nr. Hebron burn 15 d. of Palestinian crop land and kidnap, severely beat a Palestinian, tying him to a telephone pole inside the outpost; the IDF bars an ambulance fr. reaching him for over 2 hrs. In Nussayrat r.c., rival wings of Islamic Jihad’s al-Quds Brigade exchange fire, causing no injuries; Hamas-affiliated police bring the situation under control, arresting several Islamic Jihad mbrs. In Rafah, 2 unidentified gunmen shoot, wound a fmr. PA police officer. A Palestinian teenager injured by IDF UXO nr. Shuka on 7/2 dies. (WP 7/6; OCHA 7/9; PCHR 7/10; Nation 7/19)

In the West Bank, the IDF imposes a day-long curfew on ‘Azun (see 11/2) after Palestinian youths allegedly stone Jewish settler vehicles in the area; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Jenin and in Hebron, Nablus. In Jerusalem, Israeli police impersonating an Israel TV (ITV) Channel 2 news crew arrest a Palestinian wanted for making unspecified threats; ITV’s chmn. and Israeli journalist associations condemn the police, saying the deception could endanger real journalists. Nr. Hebron, a Palestinian boy is injured when he accidentally triggers IDF UXO. The PA’s newly deployed Nablus policing unit (see 11/2) makes an arrest raid on Balata r.c., clashing with wanted AMB mbrs., leaving up to 10 Palestinians wounded; the PA stresses that it undertook the raid because the AMB was challenging its authority, not because of AMB actions against Israel. In Gaza, 1,000s of Palestinians stage a protest march to the Rafah border to demand a lifting of the siege; ESF officers fire into the air to keep the demonstrators fr. reaching the crossing. (AP, HA, NYT 11/6; OCHA 11/7; PCHR 11/8; NYT 11/14)

Overnight, the IDF escalates operations in Gaza allegedly targeting rocket-launching sites, sending tanks, bulldozers, undercover units into areas of central Gaza, demolishing 14 Palestinian homes, leveling 90 d. of olive groves, killing 4 Palestinians (1 armed man and 2 civilians, including 1 teenager who is hit by shrapnel from a tank, then run over by an IDF bulldozer), arresting 20. The IDF continues operations in al-Shuka, arresting 20 Palestinians, partially demolishing 3 Palestinian homes, and bulldozing 11 d. of agricultural land before withdrawing in the evening. The Israeli navy fires on Palestinian fishing boats off the Rafah coast, forcing them back to shore. In Nussayrat r.c., IDF UXO explodes, causing no damage or injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF continues operations in ‘Ayn Bayt al-Ma’a r.c., demolishing 2 Palestinian homes and 1 other building, firing on stone-throwing Palestinians who confront them, wounding 12; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Qalqilya, nr. Nablus. Meanwhile, in Gaza, Haniyeh meets again (see 9/18) with Islamic Jihad and other faction leaders to urge a halt to rocket fire on Israel; no agmt. is reached. (NYT, WP 9/21; OCHA 9/26; PCHR 9/27)

Late in the evening, the IDF sends undercover units dressed in ESF uniforms into Rafah to kidnap and take to Israel Hamas military cmdr. Mihawish al-Nu‘aymat (also reported as Mohawah al-Qadi), who reportedly has information on captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in Jenin town and r.c., Qabatya and nr. Hebron; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, percussion grenades, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international activists taking part in the weekly nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in Bil‘in, injuring 1. A 13-yr.-old Palestinian boy is injured by IDF UXO nr. Nablus. Across Gaza, Fatah supporters for a 3d week hold Friday prayers outside in protest against Hamas; the ESF clashes with demonstrators in al-Bureij r.c., Gaza City, Jabaliya r.c., Khan Yunis, and Rafah, using batons and percussion grenades, leaving a total of 51 Palestinians injured, 20 Fatah mbrs. arrested, 3 journalists temporarily detained; reports differ as to whether the ESF tried to break up peaceful prayer services or only intervened afterward, when Fatah supporters began chanting anti-Hamas slogans and throwing stones at ESF officers. (NYT 9/8; OCHA 9/12; PCHR 9/13)

The IDF makes air strikes on a suspected Islamic Jihad rocket launch site nr. Rafah airport, sends in troops to occupy and search the area, causing damage but no injuries; fatally shoots an Islamic Jihad mbr. laying a roadside bomb nr. an IDF observation tower at the Nahal Oz crossing. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Qalqilya and in Jenin town and r.c.; seals 8 Palestinian shops in the Old City of Hebron nr. Beit Romano settlement, declaring the area a closed military zone. A 15-yr.-old Palestinian is injured by IDF UXO nr. Jenin. The Hamas-led admin. in Gaza fires Exec. Dir. Hazza’ Abed, Public Relations Dir. Juma‘ al-Saqqa of Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital, charging them with financial improprieties and corruption, and arresting Saqqa; Fatah claims that the men were removed for political reasons. In Gaza City, unidentified assailants detonate an explosive device outside the Fatal al-Yasir offices, causing damage but no injuries. (NYT 8/10; OCHA 8/15; PCHR 8/16)

Hamas presses its offensive in Gaza, taking over all PA ministry offices in Gaza City, securing control of Rafah, forcing PSF officers to surrender their Gaza City headquarters (after destroying all equipment, computers, archives; eye-witness reports say Hamas mbrs. summarily execute at least 7 PSF mbrs.) and other main security compounds; capturing and executing Fatah’s n. Gaza cmdr. Samih al-Madhun. At least 27 Palestinians are killed (14 of them in the fight for the PSF headquarters), 70 wounded in fighting during the day. Nearly 100 senior Fatah security and admin. officials flee Gaza for Egypt by boat (Egypt has already returned the 40 PA presidential guards who fled on 6/13). At the same time, the IDF occupies hills outside Bayt Lahiya to prevent rocket fire into Israel. With Gaza under almost complete Hamas control, Abbas declares a state of emergency, fires Haniyeh, and dissolves the national unity government. He also for the first time orders PA/Fatah forces to take offensive action against Hamas. Late in the evening, Hamas gains control of Abbas’s Gaza City offices, the only remaining Gaza institution still in the hands of Fatah/the PA. In the West Bank, PA forces under Abbas’s control begin rounding up 10s of Hamas mbrs. In and around Nablus and in Jenin, Tulkarm, masked AMB mbrs. raid offices affiliated with Hamas, Change and Reform, looting and sometimes setting fire to them, exchanging fire with Hamas mbrs., leaving at least 13 Palestinians injured. The AMB also abducts 5 Hamas mbrs. in Jenin. Meanwhile, Abbas’s national security adviser Muhammad Dahlan (the U.S. and Israel’s hope for restoring order to Gaza) returns from an extended stay in Egypt, where he underwent minor surgery, going to Ramallah instead of Gaza to confer with Abbas. Meanwhile, the IDF sends an undercover unit into Saida nr. Tulkarm, driving a car with Palestinian license plates, assassinating wanted AMB mbr. Muhammad Twair in a driveby shooting, also wounding 2 bystanders; sends patrols in Ithna nr. Hebron, Kafr Dan and Kafr Ra’i nr. Jenin, firing on residential areas and on stone-throwing youths who confront them, seriously wounding 1 Palestinian. Jewish settlers burn 10s of olive trees nr. Tulkarm; the IDF bars firefighters fr. reaching the scene. In Gaza, 5 Palestinian children (ages 10–15) are killed and 4 (ages 9–16) are wounded by IDF UXO nr. Shuka while collecting scrap metal; the 8 children are from 3 families: 2 Mansour boys are killed, 2 Hessi boys are killed, and 1 Barbakh boy is killed and 4 are wounded. (AFP, Jerusalem Post, MENA, MNA 6/14 in WNC 6/15; AP, BBC, NYT, WP, WT 6/15; WP 6/18; PCHR 6/21)

The IDF makes 7 air strikes on Gaza, targeting 2 Hamas rocket-launching sites in n. Gaza, killing 3 Palestinian shepherds, 1 Palestinian child; hitting a car driving in Gaza City, assassinating Hamas’s Muhiy al-Din al-Sirhi, also killing 2 civilians traveling with him; destroying the Gaza City home of Hamas mbr. Imad Dallul in an apparent assassination attempt, wounding him and 3 other Hamas mbrs.; destroying 4 alleged weapons factories in Bayt Hanun, Bayt Lahiya, and Nussayrat r.c., damaging nearby homes. The IDF also shells residential areas in Bayt Hanun, injuring a Palestinian woman, 4 children. In Gaza City, 3 Palestinians are injured by IDF UXO; 3 Hamas mbrs. are injured when explosives they are handling detonate prematurely. Hamas fires an RPG at an IDF bulldozer leveling land along the Gaza border fence, injuring 2 IDF soldiers; fires 5 rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, starting a brush fire but causing no injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in, fires on residential areas of Nablus. Jewish settlers fr. Tel Rumeida in Hebron beat 2 international peace activists escorting Palestinian children nr. Beit Hadasah settlement. Jewish settlers fr. Itamar nr. Nablus burn Palestinian olive trees in nearby Bayt Furik. Meanwhile, at least 6 Palestinians are wounded in factional fighting in Gaza that includes a gun fight btwn. ESF and NSF mbrs. in Gaza City, a Hamas attack on a PSF base in Rafah, and Fatah’s kidnapping and malicious wounding of 2 Hamas mbrs. in Gaza City. NSF officers manning several checkpoints reportedly harass observant Muslims, ordering women to remove their head coverings and arresting bearded men on suspicion of being Hamas mbrs., raising public outrage against Fatah. Another Egyptian-brokered cease-fire (involving 3 phone conversations btwn. Abbas, Damascus-based Hamas leader Khalid Mishal) that was to go into effect at 3:00 P.M. local time is ignored by Hamas and Fatah. (NYT, WP 5/20; PCHR 5/21; OCHA 5/23; PCHR 5/24)

The IDF makes at least 6 air strikes on Gaza, killing 9 Palestinians, wounding 10s. Air strikes target an ESF barracks outside the Interior Min. (killing 1 ESF mbr., wounding at least 21 Palestinians, including at least 10 bystanders); a civilian car (apparently mistaken for a Hamas vehicle) driving nr. Rafah, killing 2 Palestinian children, wounding their father, 2 siblings; a trailer used to house ESF mbrs. guarding Interior Min. spokesman Khalid Abu Hilal’s home, killing 1 ESF mbr., wounding 4; a Hamas base e. of Gaza City nr. Qarni, killing 4 Hamas mbrs., 1 bystander and wounding 4 Hamas mbrs., 2 bystanders; a car in Gaza City, in an apparent attempt to assassinate Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades (IQB) cmdr. Imad Shabanah and a 2d senior Hamas mbr., wounding them, 4 bystanders. The IDF reoccupies an area of prime Palestinian agricultural land northeast of Bayt Hanun and northwest of Bayt Lahiya to expand its n. Gaza buffer zone, declaring the area off limits to Palestinians farmers, leveling land; deploys an artillery battery on the n. Gaza border, shelling areas nr. Bayt Lahiya and in Jabaliya r.c. (targeting Islamic Jihad mbrs.), causing no injuries; sends tanks into n. Gaza to conduct “limited ground operations” to halt Palestinian rocket fire, occupying buildings in Bayt Lahiya, and later Bayt Hanun and Jabaliya r.c. (The U.S. supports Israel’s “right to defend itself.”) A Palestinian teenager is injured in Jabaliya r.c. when he accidentally triggers unexploded IDF ordnance (IDF UXO). Palestinians fire at least 17 rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, wounding several Israelis and damaging a synagogue, high school, and industrial building. (The Israeli DMin. evacuates 900 residents fr. Sederot, where most rockets have hit, taking them for a “weekend respite” at a recreation center in Netanya; about half of the town’s 24,000 residents have left.) In the West Bank, the IDF conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Salfit, Tulkarm (firing on stone-throwing Palestinians who confront them, wounding 2) and in Hebron (also raiding a wedding in Hebron, interrogating celebrants and arresting 3), Nablus; sends troops to patrol in Bayt Fajjar nr. Bethlehem, firing on residential areas and stonethrowing youths who confront the troops, killing 1 Palestinian teenager, wounding a 2d. Meanwhile, a new Hamas-Fatah ceasefire significantly reduces violence in Gaza, though at least 6 Palestinians are killed in clashes during the day. The dead include a Hamas mbr. kidnapped, executed by Fatah; a Hamas mbr. killed by a Fatah sniper; 4 Hamas supporters killed, 14 wounded when Fatah forces ambush a funeral for 2 ESF mbrs. killed on 5/16. Hamas mbrs. also attack PA national security forces (NSF) and PSF headquarters in n. Gaza. With the PA security forces unable to guarantee his security, Abbas delays plans to go to Gaza today to discuss the interfactional fighting. (AP, HA, REU 5/17; IFM, NYT, WP, WT 5/18; PCHR 5/21; OCHA 5/23; PCHR 5/24)

Overnight, the IDF launches Operation Summer Rains, sending ground troops into s. Gaza; retaking the Dahaniyya airport area as a base, demolishing 5 Palestinian homes and bulldozing land to improve lines of sight, and blowing up 3 bridges to control movement between the Rafah and Gaza City environs; conducting 7 air strikes on Gaza’s only electricity plant nr. Gaza City and 6 transformer stations, wounding 2 Palestinians, blacking out 45% of the Strip, and leaving Gaza fully dependent on electricity fr. Israel); shelling open areas of s. Gaza; repeatedly breaking the sound barrier over the Strip. The IDF’s elite Givati Brigade deploys outside n. Gaza, prepared to enter if rocket attacks resume. Midafternoon, IDF artillery begins shelling n. Gaza for the 1st time since the 6/9 incident that killed 8 Palestinians. After Palestinians fire 2 rockets into Israel in response (causing no damage or injuries), the IDF warns n. Gaza residents to evacuate the area, with Olmert saying that IDF operations will escalate until Shalit is released. In a warning to Syrian pres. Bashar al-Asad and Hamas’s Damascus-based leadership, the Israeli air force makes overflights of Asad’s residence in Latakia (where he is believed to be staying) and along the Syrian coast. Meanwhile, Palestinians fire 6 more rockets toward Israel, but all land inside Gaza, causing no damage or injuries. The AMB says it has kidnapped a 62-yr.-old Israeli man fr. Rishon Letzion, inside Israel, who has been missing since 6/26; issues a statement threatening to target Israeli embassies abroad. In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in Iktaba nr. Tulkarm; raids a Fatah office in al-Bireh, confiscating computers, arresting 3 Palestinians; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Tulkarm, nr. Hebron. In Khan Yunis, 2 Palestinian children are killed when they accidentally detonate unexploded IDF ordnance. In West Jerusalem, around 100 ultra-Orthodox Jews attack a tour group of 50 pro-Israel Christians for wearing shirts saying “love your neighbor as yourself”; Israeli police intervene to stop the attack but make no arrests; 3 tourists, 1 police officer are injured. (AP, BBC, B’Tselem press release, HA, IFM, IMEMC, ITV, MM, NYT, PCHR, REU, Voice of the Arabs [Cairo], WP, WT, YA 6/28; OSC 6/28 in WNC 6/30; BBC, CSM, HA, IMEMC, MM, NYT, REU, WP, WT 6/29; Globe, PCHR 6/29; HJ 7/1 in WNC 7/1; see also AFP, MENA, PSCT 6/27 in WNC 6/28; OCHA 6/30; PCHR 7/6; REU 7/11)