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