April 1, 2005

IDF soldiers based at Neve Dekalim settlement fire heavy machine guns on residential areas of Khan Yunis, wounding 2 Palestinian children; arrest 4 Palestinians attempting to sneak into Israel e. of Dayr al-Balah to find work; conduct arrest raids, house searches in al-Ras nr. Tulkarm; level 4 d. of agricultural land along a settler bypass road in al-Mawasi. Some 25 AMB gunmen invade a youth center in Balata r.c., try to disrupt vote counting for elections for the center’s board that Hamas seemed to be winning (at the time of the break in, 81% of the votes had been tallied, showing a clear victory for Hamas), firing in the air, destroying furniture, declaring the vote invalid. (NYT 4/3; HA 4/4; OCHA 4/6; PCHR, PR 4/7)