The IDF continues operations in Khan Yunis, reinforcing troops, killing 5 Palestinians (3 resistance mbrs.; 2 civilians, including 1 mentally handicapped man), wounding 13, begins bulldozing Palestinian homes. The IDF also fatally shoots a Palestinian teenager hanging campaign posters for Mustafa Barghouthi in Tal al-Sultan r.c. nr. Rafah; fatally shoots a Palestinian teenager hunting birds nr. the Rafah-Egypt border; imposes 1-day curfews on, conducts arrest raids and house searches in Dayr Ghassana, Qarawat Bani Zayd, and Kafr ‘Ayn (all nr. Ramallah); conducts arrest raids, demolishes 2 Palestinian homes nr. Ramallah; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Bayt Omar, Hebron; fires on residential areas of Rafah. In East Jerusalem, Israeli police raid Abbas’s campaign headquarters, photographing the offices, employees; tear down campaign posters hung around town by various candidates. (VOI, VOP 12/30 in WNC 1/1; NYT, PCHR, WP, WT 12/31; PM 1/1; PR 1/5; PCHR 1/6)
Thursday, December 30, 2004