Conflict Blotter

Egypt, facing a $200 million cut in US aid, blames Israeli soldiers for cooperating with smugglers bringing arms and military equipment into the Gaza Strip.

An Egyptian document distributed in Congress asserts that Israeli soldiers cooperate with smugglers in allowing arms and military equipment into the Gaza Strip.
The Egyptian document was circulated among congressmen by […]

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Ahh, the joys of covering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The International Midde East Media Center reported yesterday:
Three Palestinians have been reportedly wounded in southern Gaza after an Israeli shell landed on a local house near the Sofa crossing in eastern Rafah city, media sources said.
Reported the Jerusalem Post yesterday:
A Palestinian boy was […]

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Here’s the Gaza City based Palestinian Center for Human Rights’ latest 100-page report on the Fatah-Hamas clashes in June that culminated in Hamas’ takeover of the Gaza Strip. The report comes to the stunning conclusion that neither Fatah nor Hamas fought particularly nice during the infighting. The report details dozens of alleged violations of international […]

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Israel blames Hamas for firing a longer range Katyusha into southern Israel yesterday. The Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the attack, and it’s a matter of debate to what extent the PRC and Jihad and other factions are firing rockets with a nod from Hamas. In past weeks, there have been several reports of […]

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Reuters’ Adam Entous has the fascinating back story on why Israeli banks decided to sever ties with banks in the Gaza Strip. Bank Hapoalim, the first bank to decide to cut off Gaza, said it was doing so simply because the government had declared Gaza an “enemy entity.” But that now seems to be only […]

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In the past year I’ve had dozens of conversations with colleagues, experts, politicians, analysts, etc, about whether or not Al Qaeda is present in Gaza, especially foreign, non-Palestinian jihadis. As such, this news caught my eye today.
Hamas has extradited a wanted Al-Qaida militant to Egypt in exchange for Cairo’s agreement to allow dozens of stranded […]

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The Jerusalem Post’s Khaled Abu Toameh appears to have been badly misled on this story about a video of an alleged Hamas honor killing in the Gaza Strip. The paper’s Web site is currently leading with the story. Too bad the disturbing video looks to be a 2004 April 2007 clip of a Yazidi girl […]

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Asharq Alawsat reports today (arabic) that Hamas has announced a new plan to share control over the security services in Gaza. The short of it: Hamas will temporarily transfer responsibility for the security services, presidential headquarters and all the crossings into Gaza to the Egyptian government, until the security services can be reconstituted along national […]

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Israel is stepping up its military offensive in the Gaza Strip and Defense Minister Ehud Barak is warning that more is yet to come. “We are getting closer to carrying out a widespread operation in Gaza,” Barak told Israel’s Army Radio Wednesday, the Labor Party leader’s 100th day as defense minister.
As Barak readies an assault […]

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Cam Simpson and Neil King Jr. have a worthwhile read in the Wall Street Journal (subscription) about the intelligence and arms trove Hamas seized in Gaza. Hamas claims to have found documents exposing a broad Fatah spy-ring working against Arab countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, on behalf of the US. It was […]

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