News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (December 23 –29, 2020)

The Gaza Strip

Judea and Samaria

• Mai al-Kayla, Palestinian Authority (PA) minister of health, said she had recommended to the prime minister and the emergency committee that the preventive measures be renewed to continue flattening the curve of infection. She called on Palestinians to go to a hospital immediately if they have a fever or difficulty breathing (Facebook page of the ministry of health in Ramallah, December 29, 2020).
• Usama al-Najar, a member of the ministry of health’s emergency committee, said the vaccines are expected to arrive before the end of January 2021. The Shehab news agency reported that the vaccines will come from Russia and are expected to arrive within two weeks (Shehab, December 28, 2020). At the weekly PA government meeting PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh said all the necessary contacts had been made to receive the first installment of the vaccines and they would arrive soon (Wafa, December 28, 2020).

Rocket and mortar shell fire into Israel

• On the evening of December 25, 2020, two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip at the Ashqelon region. They were intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defense system. Several local residents were injured while running to protected areas and some were treated for shock (Israeli media, December 25, 2020). The rockets were fired after a month of calm from the Gaza Strip (the last rocket launch was on November 22, 2020).
• On December 29, 2020, a few minutes after midnight, another rocket was fired at Israel. It fell inside the Gaza Strip (IDF spokesman, December 29, 2020).

Monthly Distribution of Rocket and Mortar Shell Fire

Annual Distribution of Rocket Hits

Israel’s response

• In response to the rocket fire IDF aircraft attacked a number of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. Among them were a site for the manufacture of rockets, an underground facility and a military post (IDF spokesman, December 26, 2020). The attack on the rocket-manufacturing site caused secondary explosions which damaged a number of civilian buildings nearby.
• The Palestinian media reported attacks on a “resistance” post in the Tufah neighborhood of eastern Gaza Strip and a restraint force post east of Deir al-Balah. However, according to the Palestinian media, the attacks damaged civilian buildings (Shehab, December 26, 2020). Palestinian sources reported that a children’s hospital had been damaged and there were power outages in extensive areas in Gaza City. The ministry of national economy in the Gaza Strip reported that in the al-Tufah neighborhood a soft drink factory and a factory for the production of plastic pipes were damaged (Facebook page of the ministry of national economy in the Gaza Strip, December 26, 2020). A spokesman for the ministry added that the attacks damaged “dozens” of businesses (al-Araby al-Jadeed, December 28, 2020). The ministry of health in Gaza condemned the Israeli attacks, especially the [alleged] damage to the children’s hospital (Filastin al-Yawm, December 26, 2020).

Hamas’ response

•  Hamas spokesmen condemned the Israeli attacks. Fawzi Barhoum noted the considerable damage done by the “Israeli escalation,” with no mention of the rocket fire that triggered the attacks (Palinfo, December 26, 2020). He claimed Israel deliberately targeted civilian sites, which, he claimed, indicated that Israel had planned the “escalation.” Hazem Qassem called the attack “barbaric aggression” whose objective was to terrorize the Gazan civilian population (Hazem Qassem’s Twitter account, December 26, 2020). Despite the accusations in the media, Hamas abstained from a response.

Apprehension of suspected murderer of Israeli civilian

• On December 24, 2020, the Israeli security forces captured a Palestinian from the village of Tura near Jenin and detained him on suspicion of having murdered an Israeli civilian woman in the Reihan Forest on December 21, 2020 (IDF spokesman, December 24, 2020). The Palestinian, who is believed to have operated alone, confessed to murdering the Israeli woman by hitting her head with a rock; he reenacted the crime. IDF forces mapped his house in preparation for demolishing it (Israeli media, December 25, 2020).
•   The Palestinian media reported the Palestinian was Muhammad Marwah Kabha, 33 (or 36), married to two women, who held several jobs to support his family. According to Muntaser Samour, director of the prisoners’ club in Jenin, Kabha spent six years in Israeli prisons and was released in 2017 (al-Quds, December 24, 2020; Wafa, December 24, 2020; Ramallah Mix website, December 24, 2020).

   
Muhammad Marwah Kabha (Right: Facebook page of his uncle, Ahmed Kabha, December 25,l 2021. Left: Facebook page of a radio and TV station in Tulkarm, December 24, 2020).

 
Mapping the house of the confessed Palestinian murderer in preparation for demolishing it
(IDF Twitter account, December 25, 2020).

IDF activity following the shooting attack in east Jerusalem

• On the night of December 24, 2020, IDF forces entered the village of Qabatiya to search the house of the terrorist who carried out the shooting attack in Jerusalem on December 21, 2020. During the search a Palestinian was detained on suspicion of aiding the terrorist; weapons were seized. Clashed developed between IDF forces and several dozen Palestinians who blocked roads and threw Molotov cocktails (IDF spokesman, December 24, 2020).

Other events

• In Judea and Samaria Palestinians continued throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at Israeli vehicles. The number of stones thrown in drive-by attacks has recently increased. The more prominent events were the following:^[2]
  • December 28, 2020: Stones were thrown at a bus southwest of Jenin. No casualties were reported.
  • December 27, 2020: Stones were thrown at a bus southwest of Ariel. No casualties were reported.
  • December 25, 2020: Stones were thrown from a passing car at a vehicle northeast of Ramallah. No casualties were reported; the front windshield of the vehicle was damaged.
  • December 24, 2020: Stones were thrown at a vehicle north of Hebron. No casualties or damage were reported.
  • December 23, 2020: Molotov cocktails, stones and fireworks were thrown at Border Police fighters and Israeli police in the Issawiya neighborhood of east Jerusalem. The fighters detained a 17-year-old Palestinian holding a Molotov cocktail.
  • December 23, 2020: Stones were thrown at a bus north of Hebron. No casualties were reported. The bus was damaged.
  • December 22, 2020: Stones were thrown at a bus northeast of Jerusalem. No casualties were reported. The front windshield of the bus was damaged.
  • December 22, 2020: Three Molotov cocktails were thrown at a bus and vehicle north of al-Bireh. No casualties were reported; the vehicle was damaged.
  • December 22, 2020: Palestinians threw stones at an Israeli vehicle southeast of Bethlehem. A man suffered minor wounds to his head. The front windshield of the vehicle was damaged.
  • December 22, 2020: Stones were thrown at a bus northeast of Jerusalem. No casualties were reported. The front windshield of the bus was damaged.
  • December 22, 2020: Three Palestinians threw stones at a vehicle northwest of Ariel. One man was slightly injured. The vehicle was damaged.
  •  December 22, 2020: Molotov cocktails were thrown at a bus southwest of Jerusalem. No casualties were reported.

Significant terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria since January 2019^[3]

Exercise of the terrorist organizations’ joint operations room in the Gaza Strip

• On December 29, 2020, the joint operations room of the Palestinian terrorist organizations operating in the Gaza Strip held a 12-hour military exercise called the “Strong Pillar.” The ministry of the interior in Gaza announced movement along the coast would be restricted for 24 hours and the beaches would be closed to visitors and fishermen (al-Risalah, December 28. 2020).
• The joint operations room announced that the exercise was being held on the 12^th anniversary of Operation Cast Lead (called the “Battle of al-Furqan” by Hamas) and 12 military wings of the various organizations in the Gaza Strip would participate. Its objective was to strengthen cooperation between the “resistance” organizations and display the strength of their preparations (Jerusalem Brigades website, December 28, 2020). According to Isma’il Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau, the exercise would be a milestone for significant joint activity against Israel in the “next stage” (al-Jazeera, December 28, 2020).
• The exercise began with a formal announcement from the spokesman of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)’s military wing, speaking for the joint operations room. According to the announcement, the “defensive exercise” would use live ammunition throughout the Gaza Strip while simulating the threats that could be expected from Israel. Its objective would be to improve the capabilities of “resistance” operatives to fight under any circumstances (Jerusalem Brigades website, December 29, 2020). During the exercise rockets were fired towards the sea.

   
Right: The Arabic reads, “Our compass [points] to the direction of liberation” (Telegram channel of the joint operations room, December 29, 2020). Left: The names of the 12 military wings participating in the military exercise (Telegram channel of the joint operations room, December 26, 2020).

Military activities carried out during the exercise

 
Firing rockets towards the sea (Right: Twitter account of Muhammad Khaled, December 29, 2020. Left: Telegram channel of the joint operations room, December 29, 2020).

   
Right: UAVs (Telegram channel of the joint operations room, December 29, 2020). Left: Naval activities (Twitter account of Yasser Mamduh Abu Mamduh, December 29, 2020; QudsN, December 29, 2020).

   
Searches along the beach (Twitter account of Yasser Mamduh Abu Mamduh, December 29, 2020; QudsN, December 29, 2020).

Anniversary of Operation Cast Lead (called by Hamas the “Battle of Furqan”)

• In the Gaza Strip Palestinians marked the 12^th anniversary of Operation Cast Lead. The Hamas ministry of the interior held a ceremony in police headquarters in western Gaza City, attended by senior figures in the ministry of the interior and the security forces. Tawfiq Abu Na’im, deputy minister of the interior, said the organizations had successfully rehabilitated themselves after the Operation Cast Lead debacle, and they were continuing their activities despite the “inadequate [sic] means” at their disposal (Facebook page of the ministry of the interior in Gaza, December 27, 2020).
• Hamas said in a statement that the “armed resistance” would continue to spearhead the struggle against Israel, stressing that Israel had no future (Hamas website, December 27, 2020). Isma’il Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau, said the “resistance,” and especially Hamas’ military wing, had successfully turned Operation Cast Lead into a starting point for constructing a military force that had grown in strength over the years to its present capabilities (al-Jazeera, December 28. 2020).

Reactions to the Israel-Morocco normalization

• Following the signing of the joint declaration in Rabat, the capital of Morocco, Isma’il Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau, condemned the normalization agreements, calling them a stab in the back of the Palestinian people and the [Muslim] nation. He sent a communiqué to the leaders of 30 Arab-Muslim states, stressing that normalizing relations with Israel was “a great sin” and a strategic blow to the Islamic nation and its security. He said Hamas strongly opposed all normalization agreements of Arab states with Israel under the aegis of the United States administration. He called for the establishing of a united Arab-Islamic front against normalization with Israel (alresala.net, December 23, 2020). The PA has abstained from issuing a reaction.

The issue of payments to prisoners and the families of shaheeds

• On January 1, 2021, the order of the Israeli commander of the Central Command exposing Palestinian banks to legal action if they make payments to Palestinian prisoners and released prisoners will go into effect. Given the imminent threat, senior PA figures said that in the coming days the PA was planning to make the payments for the next three months in advance to circumvent the Israeli order. Paying three months in advance ensures payments until the released prisoners have been recruited for work in the PA institutions and gives the PA time to open a bank dedicated to making payments to prisoners, released prisoners and the families of shaheeds.^[4]

Medal presented by the commander of the Palestinian national security forces in Salfit

•  Ihab al-Suidani, the commander of the Palestinian national security forces in Salfit, presented a medal to Palestinian singer Abdallah al-Suidani, who produced the anti-Israeli war-mongering song entitled “The target is under observation and the machine gun is ready” (QudsN Facebook page, December 27, 2020). After the ceremony Abdallah al-Suidani had his picture taken with operatives of the security forces in Salfit.

 
Right: The commander of the Palestinian national security forces in Salfit presents a medal to the Palestinian singer who produced an anti-Israeli war-mongering song (QudsN Facebook page, December 27, 2020). Left: Abdallah al-Suidani has his picture taken with operatives of the security forces in Salfit (website of Palestine, the Future, December 27, 2020).