Palestinian terrorism

A Palestinian died during an Israeli army operation in the southern West Bank before dawn on Sept. 22 as he handled a makeshift explosive, while troops shot a woman who allegedly tried to stab a soldier.

The UN Security Council appealed for calm and restraint Sept. 17 after three days of clashes this week at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound between Israeli police and Muslim protesters.

In a unanimous declaration, the 15-member panel also expressed its "grave concern" and called for maintaining the rules governing the sensitive site seen as holy by both Muslims and Jews.    

Israeli officials have clearly drawn a line between potential threats posed by Iran and jihadists against their country, putting at Tehran at the top of the list.

The Israeli military said Sept. 3 its air force had attacked a Hamas military position in the Gaza Strip overnight from which gunfire had hit homes in southern Israel.

Five Palestinians and an Israeli border policeman were wounded in a raid in the occupied West Bank to arrest a Hamas militant, the Israeli army and local medical officials said on Sept 1. 

The fate of the wanted man was not immediately clear. The army said soldiers demolished a house, in the city of Jenin, in which he was suspected of hiding, after they were shot at. 

Clashes erupted during an overnight Israeli raid to arrest an alleged Hamas member at a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, leaving a border policeman and five Palestinians wounded, officials said on Sep.1.

The clashes that included gunfire lasted for hours at the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank and were among the most violent to occur there in recent years.    

Israel launched an air strike against a Hamas facility on Aug. 27 in response to a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said. 

The exiled head of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, said "positive contacts" have been made towards securing a long-term truce with Israel, in a video posted Friday on an Arab website.

Israel said on August 17 it was not engaged in talks with Hamas following a flurry of media reports suggesting the two sides were discussing a long-term ceasefire.

A Paris beach event celebrating Tel Aviv attracted a handful of visitors but a huge number of journalists, riot police and security guards on August 13, as well as a much larger "Gaza Beach" protest.