A general curfew in the Gaza Strip continued Tuesday for the second consecutive day, as the Israel Defense Force tried to grab the initiative in the Palestinian uprising with an aggressive new security policy.
The policy is intended to discourage ongoing strikes and rioting, to crack down on the popular committees organizing the “intifada,” and to prevent nationalist Palestinian circles from filling in the vacuum that was created by Jordan’s decision to sever administrative links to the territories.
Despite the curfew, limited riots continued in the territories, and spread to the Ketziot detention camp in the Negev.
Two prisoners were killed and one slightly wounded from shots fired by IDF soldiers during rioting by hundreds of detainees in the desert camp.
The army closed off the Gaza Strip entirely. No newsmen were allowed in, and reports on the area were based almost entirely on Arab sources.
Army sources did not confirm reports of large numbers of wounded in the Gaza Strip.
A laconic communique said that, by and large, the curfew was observed, and that the few attempts to break it were suppressed.
But Arab sources reported that dozens of wounded were admitted to Shifa Hospital in Gaza, reportedly beaten by IDF soldiers for breaking the curfew.
One 63-year-old resident of the Shati refugee camp was brought to the hospital already dead.
Arabs claimed he was suffocated by tear gas, but military sources said they could not confirm the claim. An autopsy was ordered.
By Tuesday night there was no indication how successful the security forces have been in restoring order to the Gaza Strip, nor how long the general curfew would continue.
Meanwhile, an army spokesman announced Tuesday that the security forces recently infiltrated a number of terrorist cells in the Hebron and Bethlehem regions.
One of the cells was allegedly responsible for a number of petrol bomb attacks and arson directed against automobiles.
Others are suspected of murdering an Arab policeman in the town of Beit Jala, throwing grenades in Hebron and placing explosives in several places in Israel, including Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood.
The army also announced Tuesday that a division commander, suspected of killing an Arab during a riot four months ago contrary to regulations, has been removed from his command.
The officer, a colonel, will face a disciplinary hearing before the deputy chief of staff.
According to Israel Television, the officer was charged with chasing and shooting a resident of the village of Bani Naim near Hebron, following a local demonstration.
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