May 2, 2006

The IDF captures a Palestinian boat smuggling explosives fr. Egypt to Gaza; beats up a mute 12-yr.-old Palestinian boy who fails to understand their questions at a checkpoint nr. Jenin; raids, searches, vandalizes the Greek Catholic Medical Center in Bayt Sahur nr. Bethlehem; conducts arrest raids, house searches in and around Jenin, nr. Bethlehem, in al-Til. In Bayt Lahiya, 2 PA security officers are killed, 1 is wounded when they try to disarm an unexploded IDF shell. Haniyeh calls on militants not to launch attacks against border crossings, saying that hindering the import of supplies to Gaza violates national interests. (HA, IMEMC 5/2; PCHR 5/4; HA 5/15)