Israel and the West Bank
Four people were killed and six others injured when two Palestinian men opened fire at the Sarona Market in Tel Aviv on June 8th. One of the attackers was shot at the scene with the other perpetrator taken into custody soon thereafter. The wounded were evacuated to nearby hospitals for treatment.
Israeli military forces swept the Eizariya and Abu Dis areas of the West Bank on June 9th, seizing machinery that was used to make illegal homemade guns, similar to those used in the shooting at the Sarona Market. The IDF also made more than a dozen arrests finding bullets and components for explosive devices.
Two Palestinian security officers suffered wounds from a rock attack near Yitzhar in the West Bank, a locality with a known history of violence. Palestinian media reported that the attackers were Israeli settlers, however Israeli police in the Judea and Samaria division are still conducting an investigation.
The senior member of Hamas’ military wing, Bassam Mahmoud Baraka, defected to Israel on June 14th, turning himself in to soldiers who were waiting for him at the Gaza border, according to a Fatah-associated media outlet. Baraka was carrying a laptop at the time, and was said to be very knowledgeable about Hamas’s tunnel operations.
A Palestinian teenager was shot and severely injured during clashes between Palestinian security forces and masked gunmen in the West Bank village of Kafr Aqab. The overnight military crackdown that stirred the confrontation came after unidentified assailants targeted an attack against Palestinian Authority Social Development Minister Ibrahim al-Shaer.
Israeli Border Police arrested three Palestinian men in their 20’s at Tapuah Junction in the West Bank. The men were taken into custody under suspicion of weapons trafficking after security forces found pieces of a disassembled M-16 assault rifle hidden throughout the car.
Four Arabs from the West Bank attacked a Jewish home with firebombs in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv. Israeli security forces caught the suspects, who were illegally living in the nearby neighborhood of Jebl Mukaber.
Gaza
Hamas tested about 30 short-range rockets, firing them from Gaza into the Mediterranean Sea on June 10th. Israeli Army Radio reported that they were not aimed at Israel.
London-based newspaper Rai Alyoum reported that Hamas’s political leader, Khaled Mashaal, will not run for reelection at the end of this year after serving for a decade in the position.
Palestinian media reported that the IDF fired at an observation post for the Islamic Jihad al-Quds Brigade inside the southern Gaza strip on June 19th.
Israel will begin constructing an underground concrete wall around certain parts of Gaza in order to prevent the building of new Hamas terror tunnels. The wall will replace the existing wire fence spanning the 40-mile border, and will cost an estimated $570 million. Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups vowed violence should Israel go through with constructing the underground obstruction.
Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas blamed each other for failing to implement a 2014 reconciliation agreement at a round of talks in Doha. Fatah claimed that Hamas was not yet ready for political partnership and that the organization was “undermining” efforts at forming a unity government. Hamas argued that Fatah wanted to employ the help of the Palestinian Liberation Organization to rival the current Gazan administration. The Doha talks were aimed at adopting an agreement that would address obstacles of cooperation with the goal of creation of a unified Palestinian government.
Sinai
ISIS affiliates killed three Egyptians in the Northern Sinai region after the victims “failed to comply” with the militant group’s demands.
Egyptian military forces killed 35 gunmen in the Sinai Peninsula city of Sheikh Zuweid on June 15th. The gunmen were spotted heading toward a military checkpoint wielding rocket-propelled grenade launchers, when the Egyptian army fired artillery shells at the advancing militants.
An IED exploded on the Northern Sinai Al-Hassne highway, killing an Egyptian police captain and wounding another.
Jewish Policy Center interns Mina Hamblet and Eliana Amundson compiled this report.
