October 31, 2002

The IDF continues Operation Vanguard in Jenin, conducting arrest raids, house-to-house searches, blowing up 4 Palestinian homes; fatally shoots a mentally handicapped Palestinian who strays too close to the Rafah border fence; fires on Palestinians who stray too close to Beit El settlement, killing 1 Palestinian, wounding 2; fires on Palestinians waiting at a Khan Yunis checkpoint (injuring 1), residential areas nr. Neve Dekalim settlement (injuring 8, including 1 woman, 4 children), a group of children at the entrance to Tulkarm r.c. (injuring 1), Palestinians outside the Qabatya municipal buidling (injuring 4, 3 of whom are detained for several hrs. without medical attention); conducts arrest raids in Hebron, Tulkarm; demolishes a Palestinian home nr. Kefar Darom settlement; bulldozes13 dunams of land nr. Aley Sinai settlement. In Gaza City, 3 Hamas mbrs. are killed in an explosion; Hamas spokesman `Abd al-`Aziz Rantisi acknowledges the men were probably making a bomb. Hamas mbrs. attack journalists who arrive to cover the scene, destroying 2 cameras, lightly injuring a Reuters cameraman and reporter; the main Palestinian journalists union in Gaza orders a boycott of coverage of all Hamas activities in protest; Hamas apologizes. Some 22 Jewish settlers attack the Za’tara mayor, municipal surveyor, an a surveying team, destroying their equipment, maps, documents. A Jewish settler confiscates Palestinian land nr. Dayr al-Balah, razes the area, sets up greenhouses. (HA, NYT, WT 11/1; LAW, PCHR 11/6; PR 11/13)