A rapid escalation of violence between Israel and several armed groups in Gaza has by the end of this week left five people dead and at least 12 injured. On Thursday, December 6, Israeli army air strikes killed two men and wounded two others when they targeted a car on a crowed Gaza street. The Israeli military said the two men had been planning an attack on Israeli civilians and soldiers along Israel’s border with the Sinai Peninsula. As a response Palestinian fighters fired rockets deep into southern Israel on Friday. No injuries were reported. Following that, another Israeli air strike hit a Hamas facility in Gaza City, sending shrapnel flying into nearby homes. One house was flattened by the blast, the owner killed and his 12-year-old son was pronounced dead hours later. At least 12 other people were injured including the man’s wife and five children. Witnesses in Gaza have reported heavy activity of Israeli drones. On December 5, an Islamic Jihad operative was also killed in an Israeli air strike.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the series of Israeli attacks and Ismail Hanjyeh, de facto prime minister in Gaza, said he was "pursuing intensive contacts with several Arab and international parties, and we stress the necessity of this aggression being stopped immediately", according to Maan News Agency.
On December 9, Mustapha Tamimi from the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh was struck by a teargas canister during an anti-wall demonstration in his village. A day later, Tamimi died of his wounds.
Earlier this week, on Monday, December 5, in a meeting with US Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Jeffery Feltman, President Mahmoud Abbas repeated that peace negotiations will not resume until Israel accepts the two-state solution and stops the illegal building of settlements. Further Abbas asked Feltman for American assistance in freeing Palestinians detained by Israel and also made clear that the PLO has fully cooperated with the Mideast Quartet and provided its proposals on borders and security. The Quartet is meeting separately with Palestinian and Israeli officials, pushing for talks launched by the bid for UN membership in September.
Hamas and Fatah leaders met in Gaza on December 4 to discuss the result of last week’s summit between the two leaders, Khaled Mashaal and President Abbas. Officials noted after the meeting that both parties reaffirmed their commitment to the reconciliation deal. The officials discussed politically-motivated detentions, the provision of passports in the Gaza Strip and also prepared for a meeting of all Palestinian political groups in December to agree on national issues, the structure of the PLO and holding elections.
On Tuesday, December 6, Israel expelled a Hamas member from Jerusalem after releasing him following 70 days in an Israeli jail for being “illegally present” in the city. Ahmad Attoun is a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. His Jerusalem ID card, which allows him permanent residency in the city, was revoked in 2006 and he was arrested by the Israeli police this September. He was one of three Hamas members who have been staging a sit-in inside the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross in east Jerusalem in order to avoid being expelled. The ICRC has now urged the Israeli authorities to rescind the expulsion order.
As one of the first western European countries, Iceland has, through a vote in the Parliament, passed a resolution to recognize Palestine as an independent and sovereign state within the borders of 1967. Iceland is thereby the 130th UN-member state to recognize Palestine.
In the West Bank village of Bruqin, a mosque was set on fire on Wednesday, December 7. A flaming tire was thrown into the entrance of the mosque and graffiti with racist and anti-Arab slogans was sprayed on the walls. Two vehicles were torched as well in the attack suspected to be carried out by settlers from a nearby illegal Israeli settlement. Israeli police said they were investigating the incident, but few complaints about anti-Palestinian violence result in prosecution. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs settler-related incidents resulting in Palestinian injuries and damage to property are up more than 50 percent this year.
On Wednesday and Thursday, December 7 and 8, Israeli forces conducted several raids across the West Bank. On Wednesday, 21 Palestinians were detained from their homes for questioning by security forces and on Thursday morning two villages near Ramallah were raided by a large Israeli force, leading to clashes with the locals. According to Maan, around 300 soldiers in army jeeps, accompanied by bulldozers, entered Deir Ghassana and Beit Rima, ransacking homes and entering mosques in both villages.
In east Jerusalem two Palestinian homes were demolished by Israeli forces on December 5. The two homes were "illegal, with court-issued demolition orders," an Israeli interior ministry spokeswoman told AFP. Two days later, on Wednesday, December 7, Israel approved the construction of a 14 housing units in new settlement enclave in the heart of a Palestinian neighborhood in east Jerusalem, Ras al-Amud.