Israel: Bomb Builder Shortage in Gaza

Archives

April 30, 2007: Over the weekend, two Palestinian terrorists in Gaza died when their bombs went off accidentally. This is increasingly common, and the result of Israeli operations against the bomb builders themselves. The competence level of Palestinian bomb builders has declined, and accidents are more frequent.

April 29, 2007: Palestinian rocket fire into Israel continued to be largely ineffective, and Hamas now says firing the rockets is a form of self-defense. Israel says it will take stronger measures (like an invasion of Gaza) if the rockets don't stop. Meanwhile, life in Gaza gets worse because of the political deadlock between Hamas and Fatah, and the Hamas insistence that Israel must be destroyed.

April 28, 2007: Israeli troops killed another three Palestinians attempting to plant bombs along the security fence between Gaza and Israel. Hamas considers deaths like this to be a violation of the ceasefire.

April 27, 2007: Egyptian police prevented two Palestinian terrorists from attacking Israeli tourists in the Sinai. One of the Palestinians threw his bomb at the police instead, and was captured. The other Palestinian got away. None of the Israelis were injured. In Israel, police searched the home and office of Arab-Israeli politician Azmi Bishara, who is suspected of spying for Hizbollah. Bishara has fled the country and refuses to come back.

April 26, 2007: Hamas says it will try to kidnap more Israeli soldiers, and use them to get captured terrorists out of jail. Kidnapping has long been a Palestinian tactic, but it is not easy to pull off.

April 24, 2007: The "armed wing of Hamas" declared the ceasefire over and fired several rockets into southern Israel. Several other factions have been firing rockets into Israel since the ceasefire began, but the Palestinians insisted that did not violate the ceasefire, because those factions refused to obey orders.

April 24, 2007: The Palestinian unity (Hamas/Fatah) government is starting to break up, with the new interior minister resigning. His job was to restore order in Gaza, but resistance from Hamas, Fatah and other militias has made that impossible.

April 23, 2007: Egypt has put restrictions on Hamas officials traveling to Egypt. While Hamas denies it, Egypt believes the Palestinians are working with Islamic terrorists in Egypt, and is closely watching Hamas officials in Egypt to gather evidence. Hamas calls it harassment.

 

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