MGGZ01 - JERUSALEM AUGUST 10 SITREP

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