MGGZ01 - JERUSALEM AUGUST 4 SITREP

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 003415 SIPDIS SIPDIS NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE, NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/WATERS, USAID FOR KUNDER/MCCLOUD/BORODIN E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/03/2016 TAGS: PREL PHUM ASEC CASC KPAL KWBG SUBJECT: MGGZ01 - JERUSALEM AUGUST 4 SITREP Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, per reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. SUMMARY: Three Palestinians were killed and two wounded August 4 as a result of IDF operations in Gaza. In the West Bank, the IDF arrested 11 Palestinians. The Rafah crossing remains closed as of August 4, but the Karni/al-Mintar and Nahal Oz crossings are operational. Nine of ten electricity feeder lines from Israel into Gaza are operational on August ¶4. Israeli authorities reportedly are preventing the timely entry of Palestinian dailies into Gaza. Palestinian activists in Ramallah August 3 called for a boycott of U.S. and Israeli-made products. -------------- MILITARY DEVELOPMENTS -------------- ¶2. (SBU) IDF tank-fire killed two Hamas gunmen and an Israeli airstrike killed a third near Rafah in the early morning hours of August 4. Also in Gaza, two homes were destroyed overnight August 3-4 by an Israeli airstrike. The houses were reportedly weapons depots for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas. Two Palestinians were wounded in the attack. There were no reports of Qassam launches on August 4. ¶3. (SBU) In the West Bank, the IDF arrested 11 Palestinians overnight August 3-4 in Tulkarm, Nablus, Ramallah, and the Jericho area. Among those arrested was the Hamas mayor of a village west of Ramallah, his son, and a member of another village council. Israeli security forces also arrested a Palestinian woman from Nablus for allegedly plotting to kidnap an Israeli. -------------- Humanitarian Update -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The Rafah crossing remains closed as of August 4 but is scheduled to open August 5 for 48 hours for the following categories of Gazans to depart Gaza: businessmen, students, those with jobs abroad, and humanitarian cases. The Karni/al-Mintar crossing is operational on August 4, as it was August 3 when approximately 220 truckloads entered Gaza, according to PalTrade Official Mohammed Skaik. The Nahal Oz crossing is operational August 4. ¶5. (SBU) Nine of ten electricity feeder lines from Israel into Gaza are operational on August 4. The single feeder line from Israel into the Rafah area, damaged in an August 2 military operation, has not yet been repaired. ¶6. (SBU) A Palestinian media source reported that Israeli officials had prevented the three Palestinian daily newspapers from entering Gaza since July 27. ConGen contacts in Gaza confirmed that on two days, the Israeli total closure of Gaza prevented the newspapers from entering at all, while on the other days the newspapers' arrival was delayed until the early evening. ¶7. (SBU) Palestinian activists in Ramallah August 3 called for a boycott of U.S. and Israeli-made products to protest U.S. policy vis-a-vis Israel's military operations in Gaza and Lebanon. Approximately 60 activists gathered in the main Ramallah square and displayed products for the public to boycott. WALLES