VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB
DE RUEHJM #3540 2221353
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 101353Z AUG 06
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4157
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC PRIORITY
UNCLAS JERUSALEM 003540
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE, NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/WATERS, USAID
FOR KUNDER/MCCLOUD/BORODIN
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM ASEC CASC KPAL KWBG
SUBJECT: MGGZ01 - JERUSALEM AUGUST 10 SITREP
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Sporadic violence continued in the Gaza
Strip on August 9-10. Three Palestinians, including a
five-year old girl, were killed and two homes destroyed in
separate Israeli Air Force strikes. In the West Bank,
Israeli forces arrested 13 people on August 9-10. The Rafah,
the Karni/al-Mintar, and the Nahal Oz crossings are open
August 10; Rafah closed mid-afternoon due to security
threats. END SUMMARY.
Military Developments
---------------------
2. (SBU) According to sources in the Palestinian president's
office, three Palestinians, including a five-year old girl,
were killed and four others injured August 9 when the Israeli
Air Force (IAF) attacked a Popular Resistance Committee
training ground in the center of Gaza City. Another
Palestinian was killed on August 9 by an explosion of unknown
origin at his home in the Jabaliya refugee camp in north
Gaza. Two homes in the northern Gaza village of Beit Hanoun
were destroyed by an IAF airstrike overnight August 9-10.
The homes allegedly contained PIJ and Al-Aqsa Martyrs'
Brigades weapons caches.
3. (SBU) In the West Bank, senior Fatah sources in Ramallah
told ConGen FSN political specialist that the IDF arrested
Ramzi Abu Abeid, the leader of Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in
Ramallah, and Iyad al-Froukh, a Hamas militant, in an August
10 arrest operation in that city. Three others were also
arrested. There were reports of sporadic gunfire during the
operation. According to Israeli media, in other operations
in the West Bank, Israeli security forces arrested two
Palestinian women on August 9 at a checkpoint near Nablus.
The women are accused of attempting to carry out a suicide
attack in Israel. The IDF arrested an additional six
Palestinians in operations throughout the West Bank overnight
August 9-10.
Humanitarian Update
-------------------
4. (SBU) According to Nazmi Muhanna, head of the General
Administration of Crossings and Borders, the Rafah crossing
opened August 10, allowing departures from Gaza for the first
time since June 25.
5. (SBU) By 1400 local, around 3000 Palestinians had passed
through Rafah. However, the crossing closed shortly
thereafter, as Israeli officials alerted EU monitors and PA
security about two would-be suicide bombers on their way to
carry out an attack. The crossing remained closed with 700
people waiting to cross as of 1600 local. The
Karni/al-Mintar and Nahal Oz crossings are open August 10,
according to Gaza-based USAID staff. Both crossings were
last open August 7.
6. (SBU) Nine of ten electricity feeder lines from Israel
into Gaza are operational August 10. A Northern Gaza feeder
line is down for one day of routine maintenance according to
the Gaza-based USAID staff.
WALLES