February 1 – The demolition of nine permanent structures in the
community settlementAmona in the central
West 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 30
mortar shells at
IDF outposts along Israel's northern border, lightly wounding an Israeli soldier. In response, the Israeli Air Force strikes Hezbollah targets in southern
Lebanon.[1][2]
February 14 – The
Tel Aviv Magistrates Court sentences
Omri Sharon, the Israeli politician and son of former Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel 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 providing
false testimony.[3]
June 12 – Five people are killed, and about 80 injured, when an Israeli train travelling between
Tel Aviv and
Haifa collides with a truck on a level crossing near
Netanya.[6][7]
July 12 –
Hezbollah militants fire
rockets at Israeli border towns as a diversion for
an 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 to
Lebanon. Five more IDF soldiers are killed in a failed rescue attempt. This event and the escalation that follows lead to the
2006 Lebanon War.
July 12 – August 14 – Israel launches
Operation Just Reward, a counterattack that began with air force bombing of Hezbollah positions in
Southern Lebanon.
August 4 –
Tyre raid – Night mission is carried out by the Israel Defense Forces frogmen,
Shayetet 13, in the southern Lebanon town of
Tyre. It targets the
Hezbollah cell responsible for the rocket attack on
Hadera on the previous day.
November 12 –
Iranian nuclear program: Israel threatens to launch air strikes on
Iran'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 – The
Supreme 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 near
Nahariya two weeks after his escape.
On January 4 Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon suffers a severe
hemorrhagic stroke and falls into a coma. As a result, power is transferred to his deputy, Vice Minister
Ehud 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 the
Palestinian 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 a
terrorist organization.
June 9 – An
explosion occurs on a busy Gaza beach, killing eight Palestinian Arab civilians.[14][15][16] Following the blast, an internal
Israel 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
This section needs expansion. You can help by
adding to it. (August 2010)
March 28 – For the first time, a
Katyusharocket is fired from the
Gaza Strip into Israel.
(JPost)(BBC)(MSNBC) Katyushas, frequently used by
Hezbollah in Lebanon, had never previously been fired from Gaza. Large numbers of Qassam rockets began landing in the Western
Negev in March 2006.
March 30 –
Kedumim bombing: Four Israelis are killed, including one child, by a Palestinian Arab suicide bomber posing as Jewish hitchhiker, in
Kedumim.
June 25 –
2006 Hamas cross-border raid: a group of
Hamas militants infiltrate an Israeli army post on the Israeli side of the southern Gaza Strip border after crossing through a tunnel near the
Kerem Shalom border, kill two IDF soldiers and manage to capture and abduct the
IDF soldier
Gilad Shalit back into the
Gaza 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 – First
Qassam rocket of increased strength is fired into the schoolyard in the Southern Israeli coastal city of
Ashkelon. 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 section needs expansion. You can help by
adding to it. (October 2010)
March 14 –
Operation Bringing Home the Goods: IDF military operation in a
Palestinian Authority prison in
Jericho in order to capture several Palestinian Arab prisoners located there who had assassinated the Israeli politician
Rehavam Ze'evi. The operation is conducted as a result of the expressed intentions of the newly elected
Hamas government to release these prisoners.
May 3 – The
Israeli Navy foiled an attempt to smuggle some 550 kg of
TNT into the
Gaza Strip. The smugglers reached Gaza without their cargo, which was recovered at sea by the Israeli Navy.[28]
May 14 – The
IDF kill Elias al-Ashkar, the senior
Islamic Jihad commander in the
Jenin area, who was accused of planning several
suicide attacks that killed nearly 30 people. Six other Palestinian Arabs are also killed.[29][30]
June 13 – The
IDF 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 in
Gaza in response to the killing of two soldiers and the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier Corporal
Gilad Shalit on June 25, 2006, and the firing of
Qassam rockets toward Israel.[32]
November 8 –
2006 shelling of Beit Hanoun: An incident in which the
Israel Defense Forces' shells hit a row of houses in the
Gaza Strip town of
Beit Hanoun, killing 19 Palestinian Arabs and wounding more than 40. Israel apologized and attributed the incident to a technical malfunction.
Notable deaths
January 28 –
Yitzchak Kaduri (b. c.1899), Iraqi-born estimated aged 107, a renowned
Mizrahi Haredi rabbi and kabbalist.
February 14 –
Shoshana Damari (born 1923), Yemeni-born "Queen of Israeli song" – pneumonia.[37]
April 13 –
Michael Shir (born 1923), Polish-born Israeli writer, founder of children's magazine, Ezbeoni.[38]