Home Frontline Defense Frontline Defense: July 19, 2016

Frontline Defense: July 19, 2016

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Suspected car-ramming attack in the West Bank on July 6, 2016. (Photo: Israeli Police)

Israel and West Bank

Security guards thwarted a terrorist attack on Jerusalem’s light rail system on July 17, when they confronted a Palestinian man acting suspiciously. The suspect, armed with three pipe bombs and knives, was subsequently arrested by police.

A Palestinian terrorist rammed his car into an Israeli military vehicle, seriously injuring himself and wounding three soldiers on July 6th. The crash occurred on Route 60 in Gush Etzion, which runs from Jerusalem to the West Bank.

A young Palestinian woman attempted to stab a civilian and two IDF soldiers at a bus stop near the West Bank city of Ariel on June 5. The soldiers shot and injured the woman after she lunged at them.

The IDF has fast tracked plans to deploy its new Obstacle defense system, aimed at detecting tunnels being built between Gaza and Israel. The Obstacle is part of a larger project including the building of a high-tech fence along the Gaza border and improvements to Israel’s missile defense capabilities.

Hezbollah fighters positioned about 120,000 missiles in southern Lebanon, 17 times the amount that it possessed a decade ago, according to Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Dannon. The Ambassador provided a map showing one area, Shaqra, where arms deposits, rocket launchers, and underground tunnels were hidden beneath high schools, mosques, and cemeteries.  

Golan Heights

A drone from Syria suspected of belonging to Hezbollah entered Israeli airspace on July 17, capturing images of IDF activity in the Golan Heights. The Israeli Air force launched two Patriot rockets and one air-to-air missile that reportedly missed the drone, which returned back to Syria unharmed.  

Gaza

In a meeting with the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu asked for his assistance in pressuring Hamas for the release of Ethiopian-Israeli Avraham Mengistu, one of two Israelis being held captive in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli security forces announced they arrested two Palestinian business men from Gaza last month after they were caught smuggling 10,000 euros in their shoes for Hamas members in the West Bank. The two men revealed information about secret terror tunnels and rocket launchers hidden in homes, mosques, and other civilian areas in the coastal enclave. A civilian court in Beersheba indicted one of the men, charging him with performing services for an illegal entity, and actions associated with terrorism-related assets.

The first Turkish aid shipment in six years reached Gaza on July 5, only a week after the new reconciliation deal between Turkey and Israel. Per the agreement, the cargo first underwent inspection at Israel’s Ashdod port, and contained 11,000 tons of supplies including food, clothing, toys, and machinery.

Hamas arrested ten ISIS supporters in the Gaza Strip, seizing large amounts of money and weapons planned to be used against the Hamas government, according to a Breitbart report. This is the second group of ISIS supporters arrested for trying to establish it own affiliate Gaza.

Hamas announced in a press release they will participate in municipal elections to be held in the Gaza Strip and West Bank in October, after it abstained from participating in 2012. The Palestinian Central Elections Commission in Ramallah supported the decision, saying that a delegation of the commission will travel to meet with political factions ahead of the elections.

Hamas opened a three week summer terrorist training camp for 50,000 Gazan children titled the “Jerusalem Intifada.” The program includes religious education and aims at raising a generation of “resistance fighters.”

Israel opened the Erez crossing for the first time in 9 years to facilitate the movement of goods from Palestinian importers going from Israel into Gaza. Days later, the Israeli government suspended mail services through the crossing after authorities discovered drones, weapons parts, and scuba equipment being shipped into Gaza.

Sinai

ISIS’s Sinai affiliate launched a mortar that landed on a house in Rafah on June 8, killing two civilians, and injuring one other. The rocket originally intended to hit a security checkpoint. Two days later, the group bombed the local municipality headquarters of the El-Sabil village in the northern city of Al-Arish. Egyptian security forces seized the city, arresting residents suspected of involvement in the attack.

Two improvised explosive devices (IED) killed four Egyptian policemen and injured six others in the northern Sinai on July 11. One blast targeted a police vehicle on a road in Al-Arish, and another exploded on a police patrol car in the city of Al-Montabh.

Jewish Policy Center interns Mina Hamblet and Eliana Amundson compiled this report.