Israel and the West Bank
The Israeli Army shot and killed a Palestinian gunman in the West Bank on March 6. Basel al-Araj opened fire on Israeli troops conducting a raid for his arrest. Israeli forces suspected al-Araj of plotting a terror attack and two firearms were found at the scene.
Israeli police cleared the unauthorized outpost of Ofra in the West Bank on March 1 after the Supreme Court had ruled it had been built on Palestinian land.
Gaza
The Palestinian Authority will not hold May 13 municipal elections in Gaza, a territory under control of Hamas terrorists. Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah blamed Hamas, saying that it has “refused to hold elections.”
The IDF safely defused two explosive devices placed near on the border fence with Gaza earlier this month.
Four attacks emanated from Gaza over the past two weeks, including three rocket firings and a shooting aimed at an IDF patrol. In response to the incidents, Israeli forces targeted Hamas facilities with artillery and airstrikes.
Sinai
A landmine killed two people in Husainat, a village just west of Rafah, on March 4. Meanwhile, clashes between the Egyptian army and extremists near Sheikh Zweid injured a lieutenant colonel and nine soldiers. In a separate incident on the same day, two police officers and three conscripts were injured in el-Arish when an IED exploded near their armored vehicle.
