Gaza airstrike victims laid to rest

Date: 03 / 05 / 2009  Time:  16:18
Gaza – Ma’an –

Two Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes were laid to rest after a solemn funeral procession in the city of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Hamdan Al-Astal and Khalil Abu Jarad were killed when Israeli terrorist warplanes bombed tunnels along the Egyptian border in the city of Rafah on Saturday. The air attacks followed three months of relative calm in Gaza.

Dozens of family members and local residents marched in the procession, which followed a funeral prayer at the city’s main mosque. The two were buried in the main cemetery in Khan Younis.

 Israel staged air force drill over Gibraltar to show capability to strike Iranian capital, Tehran

Date: 03 / 05 / 2009  Time:  11:57
Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies -

Israel's air force conducted an exercise over the British colony of Gibraltar, on the coast of southern Spain, the French weekly L'Express reported on Sunday.

According to the report, the exercise was carried out nearly 4,000 kilometers from Israel, perhaps to prove that Israel can strike as far away as Tehran, Iran.

Israeli terrorist forces kidnap two Palestinians near Bethlehem

Date: 03 / 05 / 2009  Time:  10:41
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

Israeli occupation terrorist forces on Sunday morning kidnapped two young Palestinians from the Bethlehem district.

Local sources said an Israeli force raided the city of Beit Sahour, east of Bethlehem, and detained 29-year-old Nidal Bannoura after ransacking his home.

Separately, another Israeli force stormed the village of Battir, west of Bethlehem, and kidnapped 20-year-old Asa’ad Al-Shaikh.

Both detainees were taken to an unknown location.

PRC: Israeli unit expelled from attempted cross-border raid

Date: 03 / 05 / 2009  Time:  10:24
Gaza – Ma’an –

The military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) on Sunday morning claimed to have launched a mortar shell toward an Israeli terrorist forces special unit.

According to the statement from Al-Nasser Salahuddin Brigades, the Israeli unit was attempting to cross the border near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, but was repelled by a mortar shell.

The statement went on to say that the shelling occurred specifically in the Al-Qarara village, where the Israeli unit attempted to cross over into Gaza.

Boars released by illegal Israeli settlers attack barns, beehives near Nablus

Date: 03 / 05 / 2009  Time:  11:46
Nablus – Ma’an –

Boars set free by illegal Israeli settlers on Sunday damaged sheep barns and beehives in the northern West Bank village of Salem, east of Nablus.

According to Ja’afar Ishtaya, deputy mayor of Salem, “Boars attacked three homes and sheep barns, owned by Dheib and Ziyad Hassan, as well as 32 beehives owned by Taha Hamdan. The boars also attacked a car owned by Baha’ Hussein on his way out of the village.”

Ishtaya appealed to the Palestinian Authority to work out a solution for the boar attacks, highlighting swine flu fears, as well as physical damage caused by the animals.

PFLP wing fires at Israeli army unit in northern Gaza

Date: 03 / 05 / 2009  Time:  14:01
Gaza – Ma’an –

The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, claimed responsibility on Sunday for targeting an Israeli terrorist army engineering unit east of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.

The group said in a statement that they fired at the Israeli unit using machine guns, asserting that the attack "comes in retaliation for Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people."