February 15, 2012

Unidentified Palestinians fire 5 Qassam rockets fr. Gaza into Israel during the day, causing no damage or injuries. Late at night, IDF warplanes carry out 2 air strikes on a Hamas training base in Gaza City, damaging several surrounding homes and injuring 10 Palestinians (including 2 children); and 3 air strikes on an Islamic Jihad training camp nr. Nussayrat r.c., causing no injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF stages synchronized late-night raids on the homes of 3 Hamas-affiliated PC mbrs. (Ibrahim Dahbour, Khalid Abu Hassan, Khalid Yahya) and the Reform and Change party headquarters in Jenin, confiscating computers, documents, cell phones, and videotapes but making no arrests; separately, the IDF makes a late-night raid on the Jenin home of former Palestinian prisoner Hanaa Shalibi, who was released in the recent prisoner swap that freed IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit, rearresting him; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron; bars Palestinian access to 300 d. of agricultural land adjacent to Shilo settlement nr. Ramallah and bulldozes more than 280 olive and fig trees. Palestinians organized by Birzeit students stage a 3d nonviolent march to Ofer prison (see 2/11/12, 2/13/12) to show solidarity with hunger-striking Islamic Jihad prisoner Khader Adnan; the IDF fires rubbercoated steel bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades to disperse them, lightly injuring 2 Palestinians (including PC mbr. Mustafa Barghouti). (IDFS, JP, PCHR 2/16; MNA 2/18)