Editing Second Intifada (section)

===Israel===
[[File:IDF-D9-Zachi-Evenor-001.jpg|thumb|250px|[[IDF Caterpillar D9]] [[armoured bulldozer]]. Military experts cited the D9 as a key factor in keeping IDF casualties low.]]
[[File:AH-64Apache004.jpg|thumb|250px|The [[Israeli Air Force]] (IAF) [[AH-64 Apache]] were used as platform for shooting [[guided missile]]s at Palestinian targets and employed at the [[targeted killing]]s policy against senior militants and terrorists leaders.]]

The [[Israel Defense Forces]] (IDF) countered Palestinian attacks with incursions against militant targets into the West Bank and Gaza Strip, adopting highly effective [[urban warfare|urban combat]] tactics. The IDF stressed the safety of their troops, using such heavily armored equipment as the [[Merkava]] heavy tank and armored personnel carriers, and carried out airstrikes with various military aircraft including [[F-16 Fighting Falcon|F-16s]], [[unmanned aerial vehicle|drone aircraft]] and [[Attack helicopter|helicopter gunships]] to strike militant targets. Much of the ground fighting was conducted house-to-house by well-armed and well-trained infantry. Due to its superior training, equipment, and numbers, the IDF had the upper hand during street fighting. Palestinian armed groups suffered heavy losses during combat, but the operations were often criticized internationally due to the civilian casualties often caused. Palestinian metalworking shops and other business facilities suspected by Israel of being used to manufacture weapons were regularly targeted by airstrikes, as well as Gaza Strip smuggling tunnels.

Israeli [[IDF Caterpillar D9|Caterpillar D9]] [[armored bulldozer]]s were routinely employed to detonate [[booby trap]]s and [[Improvised explosive device|IEDs]], to demolish houses along the border with Egypt that were used for shooting at Israeli troops, to create "buffer zones", and to support military operations in the West Bank. Until February 2005, Israel had in place a policy to demolish the family homes of suicide bombers after giving them a notice to evacuate. Due to the considerable number of Palestinians living in single homes, the large quantity of homes destroyed, and collateral damage from home demolitions, it became an increasingly controversial tactic. Families began providing timely information to Israeli forces regarding suicide bombing activities in order to prevent the demolition of their homes, although families doing so risked being executed or otherwise punished for [[collaborationism|collaboration]], either by the [[Palestinian National Authority|Palestinian Authority]] or extrajudicially by Palestinian militants. The IDF committee studying the issue recommended ending the practice because the policy was not effective enough to justify its costs to Israel's image internationally and the backlash it created among Palestinians.<ref>[[Gabi Siboni]], [http://www.inss.org.il/uploadimages/Import/(FILE)1298360394.pdf Defeating Suicide Terrorism in Judea and Samaria, 2002–2005] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820032626/http://www.inss.org.il/uploadimages/Import/(FILE)1298360394.pdf |date=20 August 2016 }}, "'''[[Institute for National Security Studies (Israel)|Military and Strategic Affairs]]'''", Volume 2, No. 2, October 2010.</ref>

With complete ground and air superiority, mass arrests were regularly conducted by Israeli military and police forces; at any given time, there were about 6,000 Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli prisons, about half of them held temporarily without a final indictment, in accordance with Israeli law.

The tactic of military "[[curfew]]" – long-term lockdown of civilian areas – was used extensively by Israel throughout the Intifada. The longest curfew was in [[Nablus]], which was kept under curfew for over 100 consecutive days, with generally under two hours per day allowed for people to get food or conduct other business.

Security [[Israel Defense Forces checkpoint|checkpoints]] and roadblocks were erected inside and between Palestinian cities, subjecting all people and vehicles to security inspection for free passage. Israel defended those checkpoints as being necessary to stop militants and limit the ability to move weapons around. However some Palestinian, Israeli and International observers and organizations have criticized the checkpoints as excessive, humiliating, and a major cause of the humanitarian situation in the Occupied Territories. Transit could be delayed by several hours, depending on the security situation in Israel. Sniper towers were used extensively in the Gaza Strip before the Israeli [[Israel's unilateral disengagement plan|pullout]].

The Israeli intelligence services [[Shin Bet]] and [[Mossad]] penetrated Palestinian militant organizations by relying on moles and sources within armed groups, tapping communication lines, and aerial reconnaissance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.polis.leeds.ac.uk/assets/files/research/working-papers/wp16jones.pdf |publisher=School of Politics and International Studies |title=School of Politics and International Studies – Site Homepage }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> The intelligence gathered allowed the IDF, [[Israel Border Police]], and [[Israel Police]], including [[Yamam]] and [[Mistaravim]] special forces units, to thwart hundreds of planned suicide bombings. The intelligence gathered also helped create a list of Palestinians marked for targeted killings.

Israel extensively used [[Israeli targeted killings|targeted killings]], the assassinations of Palestinians involved in organizing attacks against Israelis, to eliminate imminent threats and to deter others from following suit, relying primarily on airstrikes and covert operations to carry them out. The strategy of targeted killings had been proposed by Shin Bet, which determined that while it was impossible to stop every single suicide bomber, suicide bombings could be stopped by directly attacking the conspiratorial infrastructure behind them by killing operational commanders, recruiters, couriers, weapons procurers, maintainers of safehouses, and smugglers of money which financed the bombings.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bergman |first=Ronen |date=3 February 2018 |title=How Israel Won a War but Paid a High Moral Price |work=[[Foreign Policy]] |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/02/03/how-israel-won-the-war-against-suicide-bombers-but-lost-its-moral-compass-ronen-bergman/ |access-date=29 September 2020 |archive-date=29 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929192845/https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/02/03/how-israel-won-the-war-against-suicide-bombers-but-lost-its-moral-compass-ronen-bergman/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Israel was criticized for the use of [[Attack helicopter|helicopter gunships]] in urban assassinations, which often resulted in civilian casualties. Israel criticized what it described as a practice of militant leaders hiding among civilians in densely populated areas, thus turning them into unwitting [[human shield]]s. Throughout the Intifada, the Palestinian leadership suffered heavy losses through targeted killings.

The practice has been widely condemned as extrajudicial executions by the international community,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Milanovic|first1=Marko|title=Lessons for human rights and humanitarian law in the war on terror: comparing Hamdan and the Israeli Targeted Killings case|journal=International Review of the Red Cross|date=June 2007|volume=89|issue=866|page=375|doi=10.1017/S181638310700104X|s2cid=146130526|url=https://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/other/irrc_866_milanovic.pdf|access-date=9 July 2015|archive-date=10 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150710155808/https://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/other/irrc_866_milanovic.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8060&Cr=middle&Cr1=east |title=UN envoy condemns Israel's extra-judicial assassinations |date=25 August 2003 |publisher=UN News Centre |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-date=12 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712161928/http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8060&Cr=middle&Cr1=east |url-status=live }}</ref> while the Israeli High Court ruled that it is a legitimate measure of [[self-defense]] against terrorism.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wilson |first=Scott |date=15 December 2006 |title=Israeli High Court Backs Military On Its Policy of 'Targeted Killings' |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/14/AR2006121400430.html |access-date=11 September 2017 |archive-date=20 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020081147/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/14/AR2006121400430.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Many{{Who|date=May 2010}} criticize the targeted killings for placing civilians at risk, though its supporters believe it reduces civilian casualties on both sides.

In response to repeated rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, the [[Israeli Navy]] imposed a [[2007-present blockade of the Gaza Strip|maritime blockade]] on the area. Israel also sealed the border and closed Gaza's airspace in coordination with [[Egypt]], and subjected all humanitarian supplies entering the Strip to security inspection before transferring them through land crossings. Construction materials were declared banned due to their possible use to build bunkers.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/26/world/middleeast/26mideast.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |first=Sabrina |last=Tavernise |author-link=Sabrina Tavernise |title=In Gaza, the Wait to Rebuild Lingers |date=26 January 2009 |page=A6 |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-date=16 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216143032/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/26/world/middleeast/26mideast.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The blockade has been internationally criticized as a form of "[[collective punishment]]" against Gaza's civilian population.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-30214320071029 |work=Reuters |title=EU warns against 'collective punishment' in Gaza |date=29 October 2007 |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-date=2 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102113653/http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-30214320071029 |url-status=dead }}</ref>