East J'lem resident caught transferring ammo to Gaza-Gunmen attack Gaza Culture Ministry

A police officer carries a Kassam rocket that landed near Kibbutz Nir Am in an earlier attack.

The IDF uncovered a horde of ammunition hidden inside a truck at Karni Crossing overnight. Six thousand 5.56 mm. bullets - used in M-16s and other rifles - were found when troops examined the truck, which was allegedly transferring electrical appliances from Ramallah to the Gaza Strip, it was revealed on Monday morning.

The bullets were found inside a washing machine, an oven and two VCRs. All of the equipment was new and in its original packaging upon the arrival of the soldiers. Sappers were alerted to the scene and were examining the other goods in the truck.

The driver, a resident of east Jerusalem, was arrested and detained for to interrogation. According to the suspect, he was asked to transfer the electric appliances to the Gaza Strip in the as part of his work for a moving company. The owner of the moving company was also taken for questioning.

Earlier Monday, Palestinians resumed rocket attacks on Israel by firing a total of six Kassams into the western Negev. No one was wounded and no damage was reported in the attacks, which disrupted several days of relative calm.

Most of the rockets landed in open areas with one landing in a field outside Kibbutz Nir Am, near Sderot, damaging several trees; another landed near the front gate of the kibbutz. A third rocket fell close to a Negev community and a fourth landed in an open territory. The last two rockets have yet to be found.

The Kuds Brigade, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for the strikes.

Earlier Monday, Palestinian terrorists fired several mortar shells at the western Negev. No casualties were reported.

In related news, one of Sweden's best known politicians visited Sderot. Birgitta Ohlsson, from Sweden's Liberal party, was scheduled to be in the western Negev from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Mrs. Ohlsson is a strong opponent of lifting the EU ban on contacts with Hamas unless it recognizes Israel's right to exist.

Sderot students were expected to sit their Bagrut exam in civil studies, scheduled Monday, in the town of Ofakim in light of the attacks.

Meanwhile, IDF troops arrested 21 Palestinian fugitives in the West Bank overnight. The detainees included 14 Hamas members.

In the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinians opened fire at IDF troops who were operating in the area. There were no casualties or damage.

Late Sunday evening, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at an Israeli car driving near the Arab village Ur A-Tahta on Route 443, the road from Jerusalem to Modi'in.

Gunmen attack Gaza Culture Ministry By KHALED ABU TOAMEH, JPOST.COM STAFF AND AP http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1181228589391&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Palestinian fisherman Nimr Bakr,72, lays in a hospital bed after he was beaten up in a mosque for tearing down Hamas posters in Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

The office of Palestinian Authority Sports and Culture Minister Bassem Naim was fired upon on Monday afternoon, Israel Radio reported.

Naim is a close associate of PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. Naim was unharmed in the incident.

"It was the Fatah gangs. There was no justification. We were at work, and the ministry came under fire," a ministry official, identified only as Ahmed, told the Hamas-affiliated Aqsa Radio.

Naim, was inside the building at the time, said his sister, Huda. There were no injuries, she said, accusing Fatah of trying to kill her brother.

The factions agreed to meet to negotiate a long-term solution after a ceasefire announced Monday morning lasted less than half a day.

Overnight Sunday, Gunmen opened fire on the house of Ismail Haniyeh, in the Shati refugee camp next to Gaza City, security officials said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. However, Army Radio reported two Palestinians killed in clashes overnight.

The attack on Haniyeh came amid a new wave of violence in Gaza that left four Palestinians dead on Sunday.

Shortly after the shooting, Fatah and Hamas leaders called for calm - in large part to allow thousands of high school seniors to take their matriculation exams in peace.

"This is shameful for our people," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said during a trip to a school in the West Bank. "I call on everyone to stop this immediately, not only because of the examinations, but also for our people to live a normal life."

About 24,000 high-school seniors in Gaza were beginning two weeks of final exams Monday, along with more than 40,000 others in the West Bank.

The fighting took a grisly turn on Sunday, when Hamas gunmen kidnapped Muhammad Sawirki, a 24-year-old a member of Abbas's elite presidential guard, took him to the roof of a 15-story apartment building and threw him to his death.

That set off skirmishes throughout the city, including gun battles and shelling in which one person was killed and 12 were wounded. The fighting delayed the evacuation of Sawirki's body. Two passersby, an elderly woman and her daughter, managed to drag the body to a secure place before an ambulance took it away.

Fatah militants surrounded the house of a Hamas mosque preacher, fired rocket-propelled grenades at the four-story building and then entered, firing at the preacher, and taking him away. Later, his body was brought to a hospital. Hamas pledged revenge.

And just before midnight, Hamas activist Fawaz al-Hitto was thrown off the 12th floor of a building and killed, security officials said. Four other Hamas men in the building were shot and wounded, bringing the day's toll to three dead and 36 wounded, medical officials said. A Hamas operative wounded Friday in southern Gaza infighting also died on Sunday.

Later, Fatah gunmen shot and killed Muhammad al-Rafati, the imam of the city's Abbas Mosque, who was known for his close links with Hamas.

Hamas accused Fatah gunmen of kidnapping one of its members in Deir el-Balah refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

Fatah accused Hamas of abducting and shooting several Fatah activists in different parts of Gaza.

Eyewitnesses said tensions between the two movements escalated over the past few days as each sent gunmen to patrol streets and set up checkpoints.Print Subscribe E-mail Toolbar

Palestinian fisherman Nimr Bakr,72, lays in a hospital bed after he was beaten up in a mosque for tearing down Hamas posters in Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

Brave old guy.

The caption for the picture is grammatically painful though. Or was the mosque actually inside the hospital? ;)

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