Reports from the strip say that residents took to the streets after the elimination of Abdul Fattah Hussein Khrousheh, who had killed Israeli brothers Yagel and Hallel Yaniv several days earlier, demanding a response.
Although the Hamas terror organization that rules the strip does not prevent Valentine's Day commerce, some clerics have in the past roamed the streets, urging people and store owners to eschew what they deem a Western rite.
Cairo believes the already-heightened tensions could escalate even further, given Palestinian sensitivities about Israeli control of access to Jerusalem during Ramadan as well as the new right-wing government taking power in Israel, officials say.
Abbas' requests include pressuring Israel to forgo construction plans in Judea and Samaria, curbing IDF counterterrorism operations in Palestinian-controlled areas and cancelling punitive measures imposed on the PA in response to pushing anti-Israel measures at the UN.
No Israeli casualties are reported after three rockets launched, one was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, another fell in an open field, and the third fell short of crossing over Israeli territory.
Troops were looking to arrest Khaled Abu Zina, but as he was not home at the time, apprehended his two sons – Awas and Hani – instead.
"It cannot be that lawbreakers wave terrorist flags, incite and encourage terrorism," national security minister says on his new directive. It follows the release of a long-serving Palestinian prisoner, convicted of kidnapping and killing an Israeli soldier in 1983, who waved a Palestinian flag while receiving a hero's welcome.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a meeting of his cabinet on Sunday the measures against the Palestinians were aimed at what he called “an extreme anti-Israel” step that involved having the UN's top judicial body issue an advisory opinion on Israel's legal status in Judea and Samaria.
Sanctions include transferring $39 million of PA funds to Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism instead.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Hamas terror group had threatened to “cleanse” the Al Aqsa Mosque of “the filth of the occupation,” following a visit to the Temple Mount a few hours earlier by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
