February 1 – The demolition of nine permanent structures in thecommunity settlementAmona in the centralWest Bank escalates into a violent confrontation between the police and the Special Patrol Unit to the settlers in which hundreds of settlers and dozens of police officers are injured.
February 3 –Hezbollah fires some 30mortar shells atIDF outposts along Israel's northern border, lightly wounding an Israeli soldier. In response, the Israeli Air Force strikes Hezbollah targets in southernLebanon.[1][2]
February 14 – TheTel Aviv Magistrates Court sentencesOmri Sharon, the Israeli politician and son of former Israeli Prime MinisterAriel Sharon, to a nine-month prison term, a nine-month suspended sentence and a NIS 300,000 fine after he is convicted of violating political fund-raising law and providingfalse testimony.[3]
June 12 – Five people are killed, and about 80 injured, when an Israeli train travelling betweenTel Aviv andHaifa collides with a truck on a level crossing nearNetanya.[6][7]
July 12 –Hezbollah militants firerockets at Israeli border towns as a diversion foran anti-tank missile attack on two IDF armored Israeli Humvees patrolling the Israeli side of the border fence. The ambush leaves three IDF soldiers dead. Two other IDF soldiers, believed to have been killed outright or mortally wounded, are snatched by Hezbollah toLebanon. Five more IDF soldiers are killed in a failed rescue attempt. This event and the escalation that follows lead to the2006 Lebanon War.
July 12 – August 14 – Israel launchesOperation Just Reward, a counterattack that began with air force bombing of Hezbollah positions inSouthern Lebanon.
August 4 –Tyre raid – Night mission is carried out by the Israel Defense Forces frogmen,Shayetet 13, in the southern Lebanon town ofTyre. It targets theHezbollah cell responsible for the rocket attack onHadera on the previous day.
November 12 –Iranian nuclear program: Israel threatens to launch air strikes onIran's nuclear facilities "as a last resort", and the Iranian foreign ministry responds that it would "retaliate with a crushing blow" should Israel act.[11]
November 21 – TheSupreme Court of Israel orders the government to recognize same-sex marriages performed abroad.
November 24 –Serial rapistBenny Sela escapes from police custody while being transferred to a court hearing. His escape launches a nationwide search, involving thousands of Israeli police officers.
December 8 – Benny Sela is captured nearNahariya two weeks after his escape.
On January 4 Prime MinisterAriel Sharon suffers a severehemorrhagic stroke and falls into a coma. As a result, power is transferred to his deputy, Vice MinisterEhud Olmert.
The most prominent events related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict that occurred during 2006 include:
January 25 –Hamas wins the majority of seats in thePalestinian Authority legislative election. Israel, the United States, the European Union, and several European and Western countries cut off their aid to the Palestinian Authority, as they view the Islamist political party who rejects Israel's right to exist as aterrorist organization.
June 9 – Anexplosion occurs on a busy Gaza beach, killing eight Palestinian Arab civilians.[14][15][16] Following the blast, an internalIsrael Defense Forces (IDF) enquiry is initiated. Israel later stated "(t)he chances that artillery fire hit that area at that time are nil." Nevertheless, Israel acknowledged that it had been shelling 250 m away from the family's location; Palestinians claimed that the explosion was Israel's responsibility.[17][18] Reports have concluded Israel had not been responsible for the blast.[19][20][21][22][23][24]
Notable Palestinian militant operations against Israeli targets
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March 28 – For the first time, aKatyusharocket is fired from theGaza Strip into Israel.(JPost)(BBC)(MSNBC) Katyushas, frequently used byHezbollah in Lebanon, had never previously been fired from Gaza. Large numbers of Qassam rockets began landing in the WesternNegev in March 2006.
March 30 –Kedumim bombing: Four Israelis are killed, including one child, by a Palestinian Arab suicide bomber posing as Jewish hitchhiker, inKedumim.
June 25 –2006 Hamas cross-border raid: a group ofHamas militants infiltrate an Israeli army post on the Israeli side of the southern Gaza Strip border after crossing through a tunnel near theKerem Shalom border, kill two IDF soldiers and manage to capture and abduct theIDF soldierGilad Shalit back into theGaza Strip. Shalit has been held as a prisoner in the Gaza Strip by Hamas since then. During the attack, two Palestinian militants involved in the attack were also killed.
July 5 – FirstQassam rocket of increased strength is fired into the schoolyard in the Southern Israeli coastal city ofAshkelon. This is the first time that rockets capable of reaching a significantly large Israeli city are fired by Palestinian Arabs into Israel and, accordingly, the first instance that such a city is attacked. No one was injured in this attack.[27]
Notable Israeli military operations against Palestinian militancy targets
This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(October 2010)
March 14 –Operation Bringing Home the Goods: IDF military operation in aPalestinian Authority prison inJericho in order to capture several Palestinian Arab prisoners located there who had assassinated the Israeli politicianRehavam Ze'evi. The operation is conducted as a result of the expressed intentions of the newly electedHamas government to release these prisoners.
May 3 – TheIsraeli Navy foiled an attempt to smuggle some 550 kg ofTNT into theGaza Strip. The smugglers reached Gaza without their cargo, which was recovered at sea by the Israeli Navy.[28]
May 14 – TheIDF kill Elias al-Ashkar, the seniorIslamic Jihad commander in theJenin area, who was accused of planning severalsuicide attacks that killed nearly 30 people. Six other Palestinian Arabs are also killed.[29][30]
June 13 – TheIDF kill eleven people in a missile strike on a van carrying Palestinian Arab militants and rockets driving through a densely civilian populated area in Gaza.[31] Nine among those killed are civilian bystanders.
June 28 – November 26 –Operation Summer Rains: Israel launches an offensive against militants inGaza in response to the killing of two soldiers and the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier CorporalGilad Shalit on June 25, 2006, and the firing ofQassam rockets toward Israel.[32]
November 8 –2006 shelling of Beit Hanoun: An incident in which theIsrael Defense Forces' shells hit a row of houses in theGaza Strip town ofBeit Hanoun, killing 19 Palestinian Arabs and wounding more than 40. Israel apologized and attributed the incident to a technical malfunction.
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