Gaza
On December 14th, over 2,000 Hamas members celebrated the 27th anniversary of the group’s founding with a parade through Gaza City. Ismail Haniyeh, Gaza’s de facto Prime Minister, and other Hamas leaders reaffirmed their commitment to destroy Israel.
The Israeli military opened eight new investigations into the conduct of IDF soldiers during Operation Protective Edge. Four of the inquiries will probe allegations of looting by Israeli troops. Meanwhile, the PA accused Hamas of stealing medication and medical equipment from hospitals during last summer’s war.
Hamas parades its armed fighters through Gaza City. (Photo: AP) |
An Israeli human rights group filed a formal complaint against Hamas’s leader, Khaled Meshal, at the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Shurat HaDin Law Center contends that since Khaled Meshal is a Jordanian citizen, he can be tried for helping to facilitate the extrajudicial killings of Palestinian “informants” in Gaza earlier this year.
The Israeli government released new information about a fisherman that the IDF arrested in late November for smuggling weapons from Egypt into Gaza. According to reports, Husam Bakir would pick up shipments of ammunition, including Grad rockets, from Sinai for Hamas divers to collect at sea.
Senior Hamas officials from the party’s political bureau traveled to Tehran to hold talks aimed at repairing ties with the Iranian government.
A bomb exploded outside the French Cultural Center in Gaza City causing moderate damage to the building, but no casualties. The center had been closed since the facility caught on fire in October.
West Bank
Jerusalem vowed to investigate the death of cabinet minister and Fatah member Ziad Abu Ein, after a confrontation with Israeli border police during a December 10th demonstration. In a post-mortem examination, forensic experts agreed that stress likely caused hemorrhaging in the inner lining of the heart, blocking the coronary artery, but disagreed whether Ein’s death could be attributed to violence or his history of heart problems.
The Israeli High Court for Justice will rule on the legality of a new law that would strip Arabs from East Jerusalem of their Israeli permanent residency permits if they are convicted of a terrorist act. With the assistance of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, four senior Hamas terrorists are contesting their deportation from Israel to Gaza. The Jewish state will also establish special youth courts for Palestinians living in the West Bank. Over the past year, a special committee has been tasked with improving the due process rights of Palestinian minors.
Shin Bet released a report detailing how five Palestinians from Jenin and the village Attil in the West Bank tried to infiltrate Israel and launch a series of terror attacks. The plan included one of the members to dress as a pregnant Jewish woman seeking medical care in order to gain access to Israel. The group would then detonate a bomb and try to kidnap IDF soldiers.
A 16-year-old Palestinian stabbed two Israelis in a West Bank supermarket on December 2nd before an off-duty security officer shot and arrested the assailant. The two injured men, both in their 50s, were evacuated to a nearby hospital.
A Palestinian man threw acid at a family sitting in a car when they stopped to pick up a hitchhiker in the Beitar Illit area of the West Bank on December 12th. Jamal Abd al-Majid Ghayatha injured seven people before being shot and arrested.
Sinai
Egyptian security forces killed seven “terrorist elements” during a firefight in Sinai on December 2nd. Five Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis members were killed during another raid a few days later on December 10th. The bodies of two people kidnapped by Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis were found in the northern town of Abu Tawila in early December. In the past few weeks, at least 10 other civilians have been murdered by the group.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced a reduction in the nightly curfew. In order “to help people in Sinai earn a living,” restrictions will be only enforced between 7pm and 6am.
Photo released on Twitter showing the Al Nusrah Front operating the United Nations’ Mamba armored personnel carrier in the southern province of Daraa. (Photo: Long War Journal) |
Golan
UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights reportedly witnessed repeated contact between the IDF and al-Nusra Front rebels in Syria. The terrorist group also released a propaganda video showing a looted UN vehicle being filled with an explosives and used in a car bombing. Al-Nusra was also behind the kidnapping of the UN troops earlier this year.
Nine members of the minority Druze sect living in the Golan were detained for “showing solidarity” with Hezbollah. Police became suspicious of the men, all subsequently released, after they flew Hezbollah flags at recent community events.
Lebanon
In a series of interviews with Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) leaders posted to the internet, Iranian military officials suggest that they have transfered new missiles to Hezbollah, capable of hitting anywhere in Israel. The Fateh and Khalij-e Fars have a range of almost 200 miles, according to recently released figures.
Syria
The Syrian military released a statement on December 7th accusing Israel of bombing two facilities outside Damascus. Jerusalem refused to comment on the strikes, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously announced that Israel retains the right to forcefully interrupt arms transfers to Hezbollah.
Attack Summary
Shin Bet released statistics detailing 212 attacks in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem during November. The intelligence agency says their figures include 3 vehicular attacks, 19 IED bombings, 7 small arms shooting, 2 stabbings, and 181 firebombs.
