MGGZ01 - JERUSALEM AUGUST 3 SITREP

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 003403 SIPDIS SIPDIS NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE, NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/WATERS, USAID FOR KUNDER/MCCLOUD/BORODIN E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/02/2016 TAGS: PREL PHUM ASEC CASC KPAL KWBG SUBJECT: MGGZ01 - JERUSALEM AUGUST 3 SITREP REF: A. JERUSALEM 3316 ¶B. JERUSALEM 3357 Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, per reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (SBU) Post facilitated the departure of 49 Americans from Gaza on August 3 via the Erez crossing enroute to Jordan through the Allenby Bridge. The departure of 10 Public Diplomacy grantees has been deferred. ¶2. (SBU) Israeli police closed the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount to all non-Muslim visitors on August 3. The police decision came just two days after the High Court of Justice granted permission for members of the Temple Mount Faithful -- an extreme right-wing Israeli group dedicated to rebuilding the ancient Jewish temple on the site -- to enter during the August 3 Jewish holiday of Tisha B'Av (ref A and B). ¶3. (C) Eight Palestinians -- including one Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) gunman, five Hamas gunmen, one child, and one 50-year old man -- were killed in Shoka village, near Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on August 3 during an IDF incursion (with about 50 tanks and APCs). Sources in the President's office reported a heavy exchange of fire early in the morning of August 3, as the IDF searched for tunnels in the area. Fighting has reportedly subsided as of 1600 local, but the IDF tanks and APCs are still operating in the area. ¶4. (SBU) Palestinian militants launched three Qassam rockets the morning of August 3 from northern Gaza in the direction of the Western Negev. No damage or injuries were reported. Both PIJ and the military wing of Hamas claimed responsibility for the rockets. ¶5. (SBU) In the West Bank, the IDF conducted arrest operations in the early morning hours of August 3, arresting 33 Palestinians. The arrests took place in Nablus, Tulkarm, Jenin, Ramallah, Hebron, and Qalqilya. -------------- Humanitarian Update -------------- ¶6. (SBU) The Rafah crossing remains closed as of August 3. Both the Karni/al-Mintar and Nahal Oz crossings are operational on August 3, as they were August 2, according to Gaza-based Paltrade official Mohammed Skaik. 235 truckloads transited the Karni/al-Mintar crossing into Gaza, August 2. ¶7. (SBU) Nine of ten electricity feeder lines from Israel into Gaza are operational on August 3. The single feeder line from Israel into the Rafah area was damaged in a military operation August 2 and the Gaza Electric Distribution Company (GEDCO) repair crew has not yet been able to access the site, according to USAID Gaza-based staff. The Acting Mayor of Rafah, in an August 2 press conference, announced that this specific feeder line has been damaged 13 times between July 7 and 31 and each time GEDCO has made the necessary repairs, averaging eight hours for each repair. WALLES