Israel and the West Bank
The IDF said three soldiers were injured, one seriously, on October 31 after a Palestinian gunman opened fire at a checkpoint in the West Bank.
Israeli TV showed an elite border unit training for attacks from Islamic State affiliated terrorists. An officer with the IDF said that the group was preparing to confront cells of 15-30 terrorists carrying anti-tank weapons and other small arms. The unit has also specialized in hostage rescues and house raids.
Gaza
The Israeli Air Force launched an airstrike against a military target in northern Gaza on October 24 in retaliation for a rocket fired from the enclave.
A Hamas-run court in Gaza sentenced a 54-year-old man to death in late October after he was found guilty of spying for Israel. The court also passed down a 10-year prison sentence to another defendant.
A member of Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigade was killed in a tunnel collapse near the border with Israel. The media identified the decease as Anas Salameh Abu Lashin from Gaza’s al-Maghazi neighborhood.
Golan Heights
The IDF said it would investigate whether troops with the Golani brigade came under fire from Syria or Lebanon on November 1. Soldiers patrolling the Golan Heights said they heard gunfire, however, no one was injured during the incident.
Sinai
Egyptian security forces shot and killed a 15-year-old Israeli on October 26 near the southern end of Israel’s border with Egypt. Nimer Bassem Abu Amar had been working on a border fence as a civilian contractor, in what the IDF believed was a case of “misidentification.”
Egyptian security officials announced that two soldiers were killed, and four more wounded, in a roadside bombing on October 29. The government said an explosion hit an armored vehicle near el-Arish and that six jihadists had been killed in the operation.
Palestinian Authority President and leader of Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas, met with the head of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, during a visit to Qatar. According to a spokesman for the president, Abbas emphasized the urgency of “forming a national unity government and holding elections.”
