John Ging, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency's (UNRWA) Chief of Operations, was the target of a terrorist attack in the Palestinian Authority on Friday. The incident, in which Ging was not hurt, was possibly an attempted kidnapping.


Ging's vehicular convoy crossed through the Erez checkpoint between pre-1967 Israel and the PA-controlled northern Gaza Strip on Friday afternoon, on the way to Gaza City. As the convoy, including two PA militia escort vans, reached an intersection west of Beit Hanoun, three unidentified gunmen jumped out of a car that had tailed the convoy from Erez and attempted to force open the doors of Ging's jeep. Seeing that they were unsuccessful, the attackers opened fire on the armored vehicle. The driver sped off under the spray of bullets.


UNRWA officials said that the jeep was hit 11 times, with one bullet having pierced th

Three unidentified gunmen attempted to force open the doors of Ging's jeep.

rough to the front seat; however, no one was injured in the attack.


In the wake of the attack, Middle East News Line quoted an unnamed PA official as saying, "The huge majority of foreign UN personnel are no longer in Gaza. The idea is to intimidate or expel the rest of them and gain access to hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and supplies for the refugee camps."


The PLO condemned the attack, calling it "a criminal act by misled and hired gunmen working on an external agenda, and had nothing to do with the Palestinian national work." Also condemning what it called an "unprecedented attack," but calling on the PA to exercise its authority and "bring the perpetrators to justice" was the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR). In its statement on the incident, the organization said the attack was part of ongoing "security chaos that undermines the rule of law and tarnishes the Palestinian people and their just struggle...." The PCHR noted that "a recent series of crimes against internationals and international organizations has gone unpunished."


IDF Soldier Injured in Counter-Terror Operation
An IDF soldier was lightly wounded on Sunday night during a counter-terrorism operation in the Balata neighborhood of Shechem. His injuries were caused when enemy militiamen detonated a bomb near the troops. The injured soldier was transferred to a hospital for treatment. Terrorists opened fire on the troops in Shechem repeatedly as the operation continued. IDF forces captured six terrorists in the Samaria city.


In other counter-terror successes overnight: three other terrorists, members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, were apprehended by soldiers in Jenin; a Hamas terrorist was captured in Ramallah and another in Bethlehem; and another two terrorists were apprehended in Hebron.