TEL AVIV — Israel's military has reported a
significant increase in attempted Palestinian suicide strikes.
The military, citing Iranian funding and incentives, said the rate of attempted Palestinian suicide bombings in
2006 was about twice the rate of that during last year. A report asserted that that more Palestinian suicide bombing suspects
were arrested in the first quarter of this year than detentions conducted
during most of 2005.
[On Thursday, Palestinian gunners fired four Kassam-class, short-range
missiles into Israel, Middle East Newsline reported. The missiles fell south of the Israeli city of
Ashkelon. No injuries were reported.]
The report said the military and security forces captured 90
Palestinians suspected of planning to conduct suicide bombings in the first
three months of 2006. This was more than half the number of people arrested
in all of 2005.
So far, Palestinians succeeded in two suicide bombings over the last
month. On April 17, at least nine people were killed in a Jihad bombing in
Tel Aviv. On March 30, four Israelis were killed in a suicide bombing at the
entrance of the Jewish community of Kedumim in the northern West Bank.
The military report said those arrested by Israel in 2006 had been on
their way to blow themselves up. Others were said to have agreed to conduct
suicide bombings, but were captured before they could act.
Would-be suicide bombers identified themselves as coming from a range of
Palestinian insurgency groups, including Fatah, Islamic Jihad and the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the report said. The
exception was Hamas, which has expressed its commitment to a ceasefire with
Israel in February 2005.
Palestinian insurgency groups have intensified recruitment of suicide
bombers, the report said. The report also cited increased funding by Iran
and Hizbullah to such groups as Fatah and Islamic Jihad.