General Information

News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (September 4-10, 2019)

On Friday, September 6, 2019, the 73rd return march was held in the Gaza Strip. The march was particularly violent, and two Palestinians were killed. Following their deaths five rockets were fired at the Sderot region from the Gaza Strip. A Palestinian youth carried out a stabbing attack in the village of Azoun (near Qalqilya), wounding two Israelis, a father and son. On September 8, 2019, Bassem al-Saeh, a Palestinian prisoner who had been suffering from a terminal disease for a number of years, died in an Israeli prison. Senior Palestinian figures and spokesmen in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip accused Israel and the Israeli prison service of responsibility for his death, claiming he died because of medical negligence.
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News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (August 28 – September 3, 2019)

This past week a rocket was fired at Israel, falling in the Gaza Strip. In response Israeli Air Force aircraft attacked a Hamas post in the northern Gaza Strip. On Friday, August 30, 2019, the 72nd return march was held. About 6,000 Palestinians participated in the events, gathering at the five return camps. On the night of August 27, 2019, there were two explosions in the Gaza Strip near Hamas police roadblocks. The explosions killed three policemen. The Palestinian Authority (PA) is acting to end the division of Palestinian territory into Areas A, B and C. At 1600 hours on September 1, 2019, anti-tank missiles were fired at an IDF post and vehicle near the community of Avivim on Israel's northern border. No casualties were reported. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack, adding that the squad firing the missiles was named for the two Hezbollah operatives killed in the attack on Aqrabeh in Syria.
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News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (August 21 – 27, 2019)

Serious terrorist attacks continue in Judea and Samaria. At the center of events this past week was the IED attack on a father and his two children visiting a natural spring near the community of Dolev, northwest of Jerusalem. The 17-year-old daughter was killed and the father and son were critically injured. In the Gaza Strip violence continues, threatening to lead to escalation rather than a lull. About 9,200 Palestinians participated in the weekly return march in the Gaza Strip, more than in recent weeks. This past week the Palestinian Authority (PA) agreed to accept refunds from Israel from the tax on oil.
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News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (August 14 –20, 2019)

Events this past week focused on the stabbing attack in the Old City of Jerusalem and the vehicular attack in Gush Etzion. Three people were injured, a policeman (in Jerusalem) and two civilians (in Gush Etzion). In the Gaza Strip terrorist operatives continue their attempts to penetrate into Israeli territory. This past week four rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory in two separate attacks on consecutive days.
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Palestinian terrorists from the Gaza Strip continue attempting to penetrate into Israeli territory. Such attempts are not part of official Hamas policy but are publicly praised and encouraged after the fact.

On August 17, 2019, IDF observation posts identified five suspects approaching the security fence in the northern Gaza Strip. At least one of them was armed. IDF forces were rushed to the site. An IDF tank and helicopter shot at the suspects before they could cross the security fence (IDF spokesman, August 17, 2019). The attempted penetration came two days after four rockets were launched at Israel in two separate incidents (August 16 and 17, 2019).
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Do the attempted penetrations of armed terrorists into Israel from the Gaza Strip reflect a change in Hamas policy?

Since the beginning of August 2019 armed terrorist operatives from the Gaza Strip have made three attempts to penetrate into Israeli territory (See Appendix). Attempts to penetrate into Israel are made almost every week, but in ITIC assessment the most recent were exceptional. First, because of their high frequency, and second, because all the terrorists were armed operatives who belonged (or still belong) to Hamas' military wing.
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