Naval closure On June 26, the
Israeli Navy imposed a naval closure of the Gaza Strip with
Squadron 916 imposing a blockade, to prevent Shalit being smuggled out by sea. The navy increased patrols of naval vessels along the Gaza coastline, and prepared for an attempt to smuggle Shalit out by boat, sending instructions to captains. Palestinian fast boats were banned from operating in the area, and only small Palestinian fishing boats were allowed on the sea.
IDF enters Southern Gaza Israeli forces entered
Khan Yunis on June 28, 2006, in search for Shalit. Four Israeli
F-16s flew over the
Latakia residence of
Bashar al-Assad,
President of Syria, in a symbolic move linked by the
IDF spokesperson to Israel's view of the Syrian leadership as a sponsor of terrorism, and the presence in Syria of
Hamas leader
Khaled Mashal. In preparation for the Israeli operation, the government of
Egypt announced it deployed 2,500 policemen to the Egypt-Gaza Strip border to prevent the possible transfer of Shalit into Egypt, as well as to prevent an influx of refugees out of the Strip. In the early hours of the operation, several Palestinian civilian locations were targeted. Bridges were destroyed that effectively cut the Gaza Strip in half. Power was also cut to 65% of the Gaza Strip after Israeli planes fired at least nine missiles at Gaza's only power station. Israeli forces also occupied the
Gaza International Airport.
Airstrikes were carried out on Hamas training and munitions camps, though no casualties were reported. In apparent response, the
Popular Resistance Committees announced they had abducted an 18-year-old man from the West Bank settlement of Itamar,
Eliyahu Asheri, and would kill him if the invasion continued. On June 29,
IDF combat engineers and
Shabak agents, acting on intelligence, found Asheri's body in an abandoned car in an open field outside of Ramallah. The youth appeared to have been shot to death, and findings indicated that he may have been killed as early as Sunday, casting doubt on the PRC's earlier claims that he was alive and kept in captivity. Although the PRC said it was behind the attack, it became known that the capture was planned and carried out by
Fatah militants. Four Palestinians were captured by IDF forces for killing Asheri, all
al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades activists and Palestinian Preventive Security force members. The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades later announced that they had captured a third Israeli, Noach Moskovich from the central Israeli city of
Rishon LeZion. However Moskovich was eventually discovered dead, apparently of
natural causes, near the spot where he had last been seen. The Brigades also threatened that, should there be any Palestinian civilian casualties as a result of the incursion, they would attack Israel's overseas embassies. As night fell, the Israel Defense Forces began shelling locations in Gaza with artillery, and hit two weapons warehouses.
Incursion into Northern Gaza As night approached June 28, IDF troops and tanks massed on the northern border of Gaza Strip, and prepared to take strategic positions in the second phase of the operation, which Israel claimed targeted
Qassam rocket sites. Qassam rockets were continually fired into Israel, and during the early hours of June 29, several Israeli naval vessels shelled Qassam locations. Thousands of leaflets advising civilians to leave their homes were dropped on inhabited areas in the northern Gaza Strip towns of
Beit Lahia and
Beit Hanoun which Israel had identified as frequent launch sites for Qassam rockets. An explosion was reported in Gaza City, and eyewitnesses reported it was at the Islamic University. The university is believed to be a pro-Hamas institute. Witnesses reported Israeli tanks, soldiers, and bulldozers entering Northern Gaza. Following a plea from Egypt for more time for negotiations however, the IDF later announced it would put a hold on the second phase to give the militants a final chance to turn over Shalit.
Arrest of Hamas government members On June 29, Israel arrested 64 Hamas officials. Amongst them were Palestinian Authority cabinet ministers and members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Eight Hamas government members (five of whom in Ramallah) and up to twenty
Legislative Council representatives were detained in the operation. Among those arrested are the Finance Minister
Omar Abd al-Razaq; Labour Minister
Mohammad Barghouti; Israeli Minister of National Infrastructure,
Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, hinted that the
Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority,
Ismail Haniyeh, is not immune from being arrested or attacked by the
Security Forces. The Israeli army and government officials said, the arrested Hamas officials will be questioned and eventually indicted. The operation to arrest these Hamas ministers was reportedly planned several weeks before and was met then with the approval of
Israel's Attorney General,
Menachem Mazuz. On June 28,
Shabak Director
Yuval Diskin brought a list of names to the approval of Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert. Mazuz decided that those arrested will be
prosecuted for the criminal offences of failing to prevent acts of terror and membership of a terrorist organization (which carry a maximum sentence of twenty years) and tried by military judges before an open
military tribunal, as would be the case for any other Gaza or West Bank resident. August 6, Israeli forces detained the
Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council,
Aziz Dweik, at his home in the West Bank. Dweik, who is regarded as a key member of Hamas, was apprehended after Israeli military-vehicles surrounded his home in Ramallah.
Bombardment phase Beginning on June 30, the IDF began to hit the Gaza Strip with a variety of targeted bombardments. Israeli warplanes struck more than a dozen times in Gaza in the hours after midnight, hitting a
Fatah office and a Hamas facility in Gaza City as well as roads and open fields.
Israeli Air Force aircraft struck the
Palestinian Interior Ministry in Gaza City. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed its planes hit the office of Interior Minister
Said Seyam, which it called "a meeting place to plan and direct terror activity". Shortly after, several militants approached an IDF position in Southern Gaza carrying anti-tank weaponry. The Israeli forces opened fire, wounding two militants, and causing them to leave their position. In a separate Israeli airstrike, three missiles hit the office of
Khaled Abu Ilal, an Interior Ministry official, who also heads a pro-Hamas militia. After Israeli warnings that the Palestinian Prime Minister
Ismail Haniyeh could be targeted for assassination if Corporal Shalit was not freed, Israeli aircraft hit the Prime Minister's office with two missiles in the early hours of July 2. On July 12, the IDF dropped a 550 lb bomb on a building in Gaza City, killing a family of nine. A spokesman for the Israeli army said they were trying to kill a group of Hamas militants led by Mohammed Deif, and did not know that a family was living inside the house when they bombed it.
High-trajectory fire into Israel On July 4, high-trajectory fire by Palestinian militants into Israel reached a milestone when an improved
Qassam rocket succeeded in reaching central
Ashkelon, the first Palestinian-made rocket to do so, hitting an empty school yard, and causing light damage and no injuries. The next day, two more Qassam rockets hit a neighborhood in southern Ashkelon, wounding eight civilians. The IDF was given the go-ahead to move into Northern Gaza with a large force, with the stated aim of attempting to push the militants farther into Gaza, and out of range from Ashkelon and other coastal towns. Qassams also struck near
Netivot (which is 12 km east of Northern Gaza),
Sa'ad, Kibbutz
Kfar Aza, as well as smaller towns and kibbutzim in the Negev.
Ongoing responses On July 5, 2006, the Israeli Security Cabinet called for prolonged and gradual military action in Gaza. A communique issued after the meeting said that in light of the capture of Cpl. Gilad Shalit and the continuation of the rocket fire on Israel, "preparations will be made to bring about a change in the rules of the game and mode of operating with the Palestinian Authority and Hamas." Later that day IDF soldiers apprehended a Palestinian wearing an explosives belt, who entered the industrial zone in the West Bank town of
Barkan, near the Jewish settlement of
Ariel, in a Palestinian taxi which the IDF said was destined for a major Israeli city.
Ground operation in northern Gaza Strip On July 6, 2006, the IDF's
Golani Brigade under the command of Colonel Tamir Yadai, backed by IAF jets and artillery fire, reoccupied the site of three former Israeli settlements of
Dugit,
Nisanit and
Elei Sinai in the northern Gaza Strip. Additional forces entered the nearby Palestinian town of Beit Lahiya. A Beit Lahiya resident was quoted in
Ynetnews.com as saying, "It's a crazy scene – everyone is shooting at everyone," and "Soldiers are coming out of the trees, from the rooftops. The residents don't know if they should leave their homes or hide." Israeli tanks and helicopter gunships entered Beit Lahiya firing at militant positions. Palestinian militants responded with automatic weapons fire.
November 2006 Israeli operation in Beit Hanoun Operation "Summer Rains" was completed by
Operation "Autumn Clouds", launched on November 1. When "Autumn Clouds" ended on November 26, with an Israeli withdrawal and ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, no deal for the release of Shalit had been reached. The ceasefire was only shakily observed, with rockets hitting Israel at an average rate of just over forty five per month before the next major flare-up of violence in May 2007, according to the Israeli government. During this intervening period Hamas did not itself take responsibility for rocket fire into Israel, and Israel refrained from firing tank or artillery shells into the Gaza Strip. The ceasefire broke down completely amid
escalating conflict between Hamas and Fatah. == Impact on Gaza Strip residents ==