Gaza
Hamas reportedly arrested five terrorists for firing a rocket into Israel on November 2. The rocket, which did not cause any injuries or damages, is the second violation of the post-war ceasefire.
According to a Hamas representative, Hamas and Israel planned to resume indirect talks on October 27 concerning unresolved issues from this summer’s war. The negotiations were likely to include topics such as opening a seaport, reopening an airport, prisoner release and aid for reconstruction. However, Egypt postponed the talks after recent insurgent attacks in Sinai.
A screenshot of a video showing a Hamas drone. (Photo: World Tribune) |
The Israeli navy arrested seven Palestinian fishermen off the Gazan coast on October 22 saying that they had strayed beyond the authorized six-mile fishing zone. Israeli soldiers also shot and injured one Palestinian man after he and another person approached the Gaza security fence on October 29.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced he would establish a special inquiry to investigate Israeli strikes close to UN facilities as well as the use of those facilities by terrorist organizations during Operation Protective Edge.
The IDF released a report detailing how Operation Protective Edge thwarted a large scale Hamas attack. Using their sophisticated tunnel network, the terrorist organization had planned to send more than 200 fighters into Israel around Rosh Hashanah. Meanwhile, the IDF also expects to see Hamas deploy more sophisticated drones, including ones capable of carrying explosives, in the next round of conflict.
Jerusalem
In a suspected terrorist attack, two Israelis, including one infant who was a U.S. citizen, were killed and eight others were injured on October 22 when a Palestinian man drove his car into the Ammunition Hill streetcar station in Jerusalem. Police shot and killed the driver, identified as Adbel-Rahman Shaloudi, who had been previously jailed for terrorist activity, as he fled the scene.
A Palestinian man linked to Islamic Jihad shot and severely wounded Israeli activist Yehuda Glick. Israeli security officials later killed Moataz Hejazi in a shootout, exacerbating tensions with Palestinian.
Israel closed access to the al-Asqa mosque following Palestinian rioting around the site. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called the closure a “declaration of war,” further inciting the rioters, as protests engulfed much of East Jerusalem. A new poll revealed that 42% of Palestinians support violence to achieve their political goals. As result of the recent unrest, Israeli Police Chief Yohanan Danino announced he would form a special unit to confront violent unrest in East Jerusalem.
West Bank
IDF troops shot and killed a Palestinian teen on October 24 as he threw Molotov cocktails at passing cars on Highway 60.
Two Palestinian minors were indicted by an Israeli prosecutor last week for attempting to bomb military court officials at the Salem Courthouse, east of Nablus.
Golan Heights
The UN peacekeeping mission in the Golan Heights may begin using drones to monitor the border between Israel and Syria. The IDF is reviewing the monitor’s request with one senior official saying “this is a very sensitive decision, with multiple security implications.” Soldiers with the UN mission were evacuated to Israel in September due to the fighting between Syrian government forces and rebels.
Sinai
Thirty-three members of the Egyptian security forces were killed in two attacks on October 24. During the first incident, a suicide car bomber killed 30 troops manning a checkpoint outside Arish, North Sinai’s provincial capital, followed by a drive-by shooting that killed another three people just hours later. Three days later, the Egyptian Army claimed it had killed eight jihadists in Sinai and arrested seven others during a gunbattle. An amateur video posted to the internet on October 31, appears to show the Egyptian security forces assaulting unarmed civilians in Sinai.
Buildings in the buffer zone being demolished by the Egyptian military. (Photo: BBC) |
Analysts suspect the terrorist group Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis was responsible for the recent attacks on the Egyptian security forces. Government officials say Palestinian militants allowed the perpetrators to use Gaza to stage their assaults. The Egyptian military launched a large operation to combat the insurgents and closed the Rafah border crossing indefinitely. Security forces destroyed more than 800 homes with dynamite and bulldozers to create a buffer zone with Gaza. Egypt also began the process of revoking citizenship for more than 800 mostly Palestinians, some of whom had connections with Hamas.
Two IDF troops were injured during a shootout with drug smugglers from Sinai. All three smugglers were killed during the firefight, which one border police officer called a “game changer,” because smugglers had not previously violently confronted the IDF.
Lebanon
The outgoing leader of the IDF’s northern command, Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, gave a challenging assessment of Israel’s security on its border with Lebanon and Syria. Golan said that Hezbollah is many times more dangerous than Gaza-based terrorists and that the north does not have the same level of air defense systems. Israeli officials also voiced concern about Hezbollah fighters tunneling under the border, similar to Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
