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News, February 2008

 

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Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

 
2 Palestinians Killed, 2 Injured, 3 Kidnapped by Israeli Occupation Forces in Gaza, Hebron, Qalqilia, Azzoun

PFLP fighter killed in battle with Israeli forces in Gaza City
Date: 11 / 02 / 2008  Time:  10:45


Gaza – Ma'an –

The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, announced on Sunday evening the death of one of their fighters in armed clashes with an Israeli infantry force in eastern Gaza City.

The Brigades named the fighter as Rami Kareem from the Zaytoun neighborhood affirming that he was killed after he took part in fierce clashes against an Israeli force.

Muawiya Hassanain, the director of ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian Health Ministry said the corpse was taken to a hospital. He added that the corpse was riddled with bullets.

Initially, ambulances could not retrieve the corpse due to heavy gunfire in the area.

The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades and the armed wing of Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, said that their fighters clashed with Israeli forces in Gaza City firing rocket-propelled grenades.

They added in a statement that the Palestinian resistance has the right to respond to the ongoing Israeli military escalation against the Palestinian people.

***Updated at 11:17am Bethlehem time

Palestinian man succumbs to wounds sustained in Israeli attack on Thursday
Date: 11 / 02 / 2008  Time:  11:12

Gaza – Ma'an –

22-year-old Palestinian Salih Nabhan died on Monday of wounds he sustained during an Israeli air raid on Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, medical sources said.

Nabhan's two brothers, Saed and Jawdat, were killed in the same airstrike on Thursday.

Muawiya Hassanain, the director of ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian Health Ministry said that the death toll of Thursday's massacre rose to nine with Nabhan's death.

Hassanain also said that Palestinian medics are searching for the bodies of two other victims in Jabalia. He said that the Israeli Coordination and Liaison Office told the Palestinian emergency and ambulance services that there are still two corpses in the area where attack took place.

At least seven Palestinians were initially killed on Thursday in Israeli attacks on several parts of the Gaza Strip. Among them was a teacher at the Agricultural School in Beit Hanoun, killed by Israeli tank fire
.

Two Palestinians wounded in an Israeli air strike on Rafah

Monday February 11, 2008 23:04 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC&Agencies rami at imemc dot org
Two Palestinian bystanders have been wounded on Monday evening after an Israeli air craft fired a missile on a car traveling on a southern Gaza road in Rafah city, witnesses said.

Initial reports said that the targeted car carried members of the armed wing of the ruling Hamas movement.

Monday's air strike came hours after Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak vowed to continue strikes against the Palestinian resistance groups including the ruling Hamas in Gaza.

Israeli military has recently hinted at the possibility of targeting Hamas leaders, in what Israel says a 'response to homemade shells fire' from Gaza onto nearby Israeli towns.

Such Israeli threats against homemade shells launchers are not new, as Israel has been relentlessly engaged in a series of measures against the coastal region since June of last year, beginning with closure through fuel and power supplies cuts and limiting entry of food and medicine items to Gaza's 1.5 million residents.

Over the past three months, the Israeli army has killed more than 200 Palestinians, most of them resistance fighters, including 16 in the past few days alone.

Palestinian homemade shells, in the meantime, have been causing few slight injuries among Israelis in southern Israel and leaving thousands of others in a state of panic.

Meanwhile, the West Bank-based Palestinian cabinet , installed by President Mahmoud Abbas right after Hamas's takeover of Gaza June2007, decided that the latest Israeli threats for Gaza would jeopardize underway Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.

The Islamist Hamas government has shunned peace talks with Israel, until the Israeli army halts all its actions including the closure of Gaza, restriction of movement in the West Bank and construction of new settlements on the occupied east Jerusalem

Several human rights organizations worldwide have been demanding Israel to scale back its actions against Gaza, as United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, has urged the Israeli government to reconsider all such measures.

Israeli occupation forces raid Qalqilia; Azzoun closure continues
Date: 11 / 02 / 2008  Time:  16:29

Qalqilia – Ma'an –

Israeli occupation forces raided the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia amidst heavy shooting early on Monday morning.

Palestinian security sources told Ma'an's correspondent that several Israeli occupation military vehicles stormed the city and remained there for more than three hours. No casualties or arrests have been reported.

Meanwhile, Israeli occupation forces continued to impose a curfew on the town of Azzun in the eastern Qalqilia district for the fourth day in a row.

Local sources said that the Israeli occupation soldiers stationed themselves on the top of a water reservoir which commands views over the town's neighbourhoods.

Israeli occupation forces detain 2 Palestinian journalists in Hebron
Date: 11 / 02 / 2008  Time:  14:47

Hebron – Ma'an –

Israeli occupation forces detained two photojournalists affiliated to the Palestine Satellite TV station on Monday afternoon in the old city of Hebron.

Photojournalist Muhammad Hmeidan and his colleague Ziad Awad were detained for more than two hours, and the material they filmed was confiscated. They were preparing a report regarding the overall situation in the city of Hebron.

Hamas' military wing confronts undercover Israeli force in the northern Gaza Strip
Date: 11 / 02 / 2008  Time:  14:28

Gaza – Ma'an –

Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, fought Israeli forces in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood and Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, the fighters said.

The fighters said they fired fired 25 mortar shells, an explosive device and two homemade projectiles at an undercover Israeli force that invaded the area.

They said in a statement that they will block any Israeli infiltration into the Gaza Strip.


Israeli occupation forces seize Palestinian security officer in Bethlehem
Date: 11 / 02 / 2008  Time:  10:42


[Ma'anImages]
Bethlehem – Ma'an –

Israeli occupation forces seized a member of the Palestinian National Security services in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Monday, Palestinian security sources said.

During a morning raid, the Israeli military detained 22-year-old Salem Ubayyat. Ten Israeli military vehicles invaded Bethlehem. Israeli soldiers fired sound grenades and shot in the air, laying siege to several houses.

The sources added that the Israeli occupation forces damaged properties in the Palestinian houses they ransacked. The major damage was in the house belonging to Ali Ubayyat at which the Israeli soldiers fired sound grenades.

In a different regard, the Israeli occupation forces erected a flying checkpoint on Sunday evening on the main road between Bethlehem and Ramallah near the area of Qabir Hilwah, east of Bethlehem, searching all cars going in and out of Bethlehem.

Palestinian sources also said that the Israeli occupation forces raided the town of Beit Fajjar south of Bethlehem late on Sunday night. Clashes erupted between the invading forces and young Palestinian men who pelted the Israeli vehicles with stones and empty bottles. When journalists arrived to cover the event, Israeli soldiers fired sonic bombs and tear gas canisters at them

 


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