In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Jenin town and r.c., Nablus; fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, international activists taking part in the weekly nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall in Bil‘in (10s suffer tear gas inhalation; 1 Israeli journalist is injured) and Ni‘lin (5 are injured, including a French journalist). In Gaza, 3 bombs explode next to a car used by the IQB parked near a busy Gaza City beach (killing 3 Hamas mbrs. and 2 bystanders, including a 6-yr.old girl; wounding 17), the Gaza City home of Hamas official Marwan Abu Ras (no injuries), and a caf´e (killing 1 bystander), marking one of the most serious upsurges of intra-Palestinian violence since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 6/07; Fatah denies responsibility for the bombings. (NYT, WP 7/26; OCHA, PCHR 7/30; AHR 8/1)
Friday, July 25, 2008