The Palestine Chronology

The IDF makes an air strike on a group of armed mbrs. of the Soldiers of the Companions of God (SCG) in n. Gaza who were preparing to fire a rocket into Israel, wounding 4 SCG mbrs. (1 seriously); though the SCG is a rival of Hamas, Israel says it holds Hamas responsible for the foiled attack. In the West Bank, the IDF fires rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades, tear gas at stone-throwing Palestinians and nonviolent international and Israeli activists taking part in protests against the separation wall in Bil‘in (10s suffer tear gas inhalation). (NYT 11/28; PCHR 12/3; OCHA 12/9)

Israeli naval boats fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the Rafah coast to force them back to shore, seriously wounding a 12-yr.-old Palestinian boy on the beach with a gunshot to the head. In the West Bank, the IDF fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, stun grenades, skunk at stone-throwing Palestinians protesting the separation wall in Bil‘in; fires rubbercoated steel bullets, tear gas, percussion grenades at Palestinian and international activists holding nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall in al-Ma‘sara and Ni‘lin, causing no major injuries; conducts late-night house searches in and around Jenin, making no arrests. In Rafah, Hamas police and Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades (IQB) mbrs. attempt to arrest SCG leader Shaykh ‘Abd al-Latif Musa, surrounding his mosque during Friday prayers, sparking a 7-hr. battle that leaves 24 Palestinians dead (12 SCG, 6 Hamas, 6 bystanders), 130 injured (including a boy inside Egyptian Rafah), and 95 SCG supporters under arrest. The dead include Shaykh Musa, who reportedly commits suicide by detonating an explosives belt, killing s. Gaza IQB cmdr. Muhammad Jibril Shamali, who led the raid. (Agence France-Presse 8/14; MNA, NYT, WP, WT 8/16; Jerusalem Post, OCHA, PCHR 8/20)

In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night house searches in and around Jenin town and r.c. and in Tulkarm, making no arrests; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in al-‘Arub r.c. and nr. Hebron. Hamas police besiege a building in Khan Yunis, seeking 4 SCG mbrs. (see 6/8); the wanted men surrender without incident 4 hrs. later, after the intervention of local clerics. (Associated Press 7/22; PCHR 7/23; OCHA, PCHR 7/30)

Before dawn, 10 gunmen fr. the militant Salafist group Soldiers of the Companions of God (SCG) approach the Gaza side of the Nahal Oz crossing in several trucks and on 5 horses and begin laying roadside bombs when they are fired upon by IDF troops on the Israeli side, sparking an exchange of fire that leaves 4 SCG gunmen dead; no IDF soldiers are injured. The IDF briefly sends tanks and helicopters into Gaza to clear the area. In the West Bank, the IDF bulldozes 40 d. of Palestinian agricultural land, 7 wells, and several greenhouses e. of Hebron; patrols in Sa‘ir village nr. Hebron at midday, chasing and detaining 4 stone-throwing youths who confront them; conducts synchronized late-night house searches in ‘Aida r.c. and al-Duha village nr. Bethlehem. (NYT 6/9; OCHA, PCHR 6/11; JPI 6/19; REU 8/15; OCHA Humanitarian Monitor 8/09)