October 24, 2006: Another Western journalist was kidnapped in Gaza. This is happening mainly for money, there being little new cash in Gaza because of the aid-cut off (caused by Hamas refusing to continue demanding the destruction of Israel.) Meanwhile, two battalions of Israeli troops have withdrawn from south Gaza, after destroying arms smuggling facilities and making arrests. Much Palestinian terror activity is prevented by the low-level civil war going on between Fatah and Hamas. Both sides are mustering their forces, but lack of cash prevents the purchase of weapons or equipment.
October 23, 2006: Hamas is apparently trying to muster enough weapons to start a "war" against Israel. This has not been successful so far, and all Hamas has been able to do is fire several locally-made rockets into south Israel each week. Meanwhile, Israeli counter-terror forces make attacks and raids daily, to either kill or capture key terrorist personnel. This has prevented any resumption of the Palestinian terror attacks on Israel.
October 21, 2006: Lack of cash, to pay government employees in Gaza and the West Bank, continues to cause unrest, especially against the "security forces" (who comprise about half the unpaid "civil servants.")
October 20, 2006: Egyptian police seized three trucks, containing 195 crates of automatic weapons and ammo, headed for Gaza, via smugglers tunnels. The trucks were caught at a checkpoint in the Sinai.
October 18, 2006: For the first time in over a year, Israeli forces moved deep (four kilometers) into southern Gaza. There, they found and destroyed tunnels used to smuggle weapons from Egypt into Gaza. Of late, the Egyptians have been cracking down on arms smuggling (because the smugglers are also supplying Islamic terrorists who make attacks inside Egypt). Apparently, there has been increased sharing of information, between Egypt and Israel, on the arms smuggling.
