The Israeli Palestinian Conflict

Inclusion of minors in military activity against the IDF: Saadi Abu Salah, a 16-year-old boy who died when he was sent by Hamas to cut the border fence, belonged to the clan in Beit Hanoun whose members were involved in intensive terrorist activity, some of them as minors (Update to previous publication by the ITIC)

On May 14, 2018, at the height of the riots held during the “Great Return March,” Saadi Abu Salah, a 16-year-old affiliated with Hamas, was killed. Despite his young age, the youth was sent by Hamas to the front line of rioters near the border fence, together with a group of boys known as the “tire and fence-cutting unit.” These youths, including Saadi Abu Salah, were sent by Hamas to cut the border fence, in preparation for penetrating into Israeli territory, putting their lives at risk.
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The Escalation in the Gaza Strip: What Next? (updated to June 4, 2018)

The two-month escalation in the Gaza Strip continues, the first of its kind since Operation Protective Edge. The escalation has been the result of Hamas' changing its policy and rules of engagement with Israel, in force since the end of Operation Protective Edge. Hamas initiated violent, organized "popular activity," including massive attempts to penetrate into Israeli territory, attacks against IDF forces along the border fence and flying incendiary kites into the western Negev.
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News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (May 23 – 29, 2018)

In the Gaza Strip there is escalation, the first of its kind since Operation Protective Edge (2014). On the morning of May 29, 2018, a new stage began (alongside the existing pattern of attacks), when at least 27 mortar shells were fired at a number of targets in the western Negev. In the meantime, propaganda-related activities organized by Hamas in the battle for hearts and minds continue.
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Hamas sends boys to their deaths in the “great return march:” the case of Saadi Abu Salah, 16, who died in an attempt to cut through the security fence on May 14, 2018

On May 14, 2018, at the height of the riots held during the "great return march," Hamas affiliate Saadi Abu Salah, 16, was killed. His father and uncle, affiliated with Hamas, had been imprisoned in Israel. Despite his young age Hamas sent him to the front lines near the border fence, where Hamas operatives played a dominant role in the riots (manifested by the large number of Hamas fatalities).
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Findings of the ITIC’s examination of the identity of Palestinians killed in the events of the “Great Return March”

After preparations which lasted for about two months, mass riots began to take place every Friday near the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. The declared purpose of these demonstrations and riots, organized and orchestrated by Hamas, was to break through the border fence and have masses of people enter into Israeli territory.
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The Flotilla to the Gaza Strip – Update for May 24, 2018

On May 20, 2018, a flotilla to the Gaza Strip set off from Norway. The flotilla is organized by two umbrella organizations engaged in dispatching flotillas to the Gaza Strip as part of the campaigns to “break the siege” on the Gaza Strip (“Freedom Flotilla Coalition” and the “International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza”). The flotilla includes four boats which are expected to reach Gaza by late July 2018.
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