News, May  2008

Palestinian Killed, Seven Kidnapped on Wednesday, 5 Killed on Tuesday by Israeli Occupation Forces

Al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas say one of their fighters killed in central Gaza Strip

Wednesday May 21, 2008 10:22 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC & Agencies

The Al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of the ruling Islamist Hamas party in Gaza claimed on Wednesday that one of their fighters was killed early in the morning to the east of the central Gaza Strip refugee camp of Al-Buraij.

In a statement, faxed to press, the brigades said that Ahmad Al-Buhaisi, 25-year-old, was killed during a 'resistance mission' in the Johr Al-Deek area, in eastern Buraij camp.

Meanwhile, the armed wings of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Resistance Committees in Gaza declared yesterday night they jointly fired a 'developed homemade shell' onto the Israeli town of Ashkelon 'Asqalan', 12 kilometers away from the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli air strike on Gaza killed yesterday a Qassam fighter and wounded at least two others, within the continued Israeli army attacks on the coastal region, since the Islamist Hamas party took over control over there in June2007.

Soldiers abuse a Palestinian youth for three hours

Wednesday May 21, 2008 02:13 by IMEMC News

Palestinian sources in Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank, reported on Tuesday that Israeli occupation soldiers abused and tortured for three hours a Palestinian youth as he was working in a hothouse.

The sources added that as Abdul-Rahman Al-Arameen, 19, from Sa’ir town, near Hebron, was working in a hothouse when he was attacked by soldiers, who without any cause of provocation, attacked him and started beating him.

One of the soldiers grabbed Al-Arameen from his right leg and dragged him for a long distance while other soldiers were beating and kicking him.

After three hours of abuse and humiliation, soldiers left the area leaving the youth soaking in his own blood.  

Monqedh Abu Roomy, head of the Media Office of Asrana (Our Detainees) Center, slammed the attack and voiced an appeal to international and human rights groups to intervene and stop the ongoing Israeli violations against the Palestinian people.

Israeli soldier injured by Israeli car at West Bank checkpoint

Date: 21 / 05 / 2008  Time:  10:57
Tulkarem - Ma'an -

An Israeli car ran over an Israeli soldier at 'Ennab military checkpoint east of Tulkarem on Wednesday morning. The Israeli occupation forces had closed the checkpoint and intensified their presence in the area.

Eyewitness told Ma'an's correspondent that the Israeli occupation soldiers at the checkpoint then opened fire randomly and prevented civilians from crossing the checkpoint from both sides.

A security source told Ma'an's correspondent that a Suzuki Blino car with an Israeli car plate fled through the checkpoint to the town of 'Anabta after it had run over the soldier.

The same source added that Israeli occupation military vehicles raided the town of 'Anabta and searched for the car. They also put a temporary checkpoint near the entrance to the town of Bala'a east of the city to carry out the search.

No one has yet been kidnapped in connection with the incident.

Israeli occupation forces kidnap seven Palestinians in West Bank raids

Date: 21 / 05 / 2008  Time:  10:23
Bethlehem - Ma'an -

Israeli occupation forces detained seven Palestinians across the West Bank after raiding houses on Wednesday morning.

Israeli sources said that the army kidnapped seven Palestinians in the cities of Bethlehem and Nablus. The source confirmed that the detainees were transferred to interrogation centers.

The Israeli occupation army kidnaps three civilians from Nablus city

Wednesday May 21, 2008 08:59 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

The Israeli occupation army invaded Balata refugee camp, located in the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday at dawn and kidnapped three civilians.

Eyewitnesses said that Israeli forces backed by heavy vehicles invaded the refugee camp on Wednesday at dawn, troops opened fire at resident homes then searched a number of them.

The witnesses added that during the search troops kidnapped, Jibreel Al-Ka'abi, 22, Omer Urdoniah, 17, and Wasseem Hajjah, 17, and took them to unknown locations.

Five Palestinians, including one child, killed in Gaza on Tuesday

Tuesday May 20, 2008 23:40 by Rami Almeghari & Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian sources in the Gaza Strip reported that five Palestinians, including one child, were killed in separate Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

Medical sources reported that a child and a farmer were killed and two other Palestinians were wounded when the army shelled several areas, including houses and farmlands, in the northern and central parts of the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian news agency, WAFA, identified the child as Majd Ziad Abu Okal, 13, from Beit Lahia. The killed farmer was identified as Hamdi Al-Dahdouh, 32, from Juhr Al-Deek in the central Gaza Strip; his body was severely mutilated.

Also on Wednesday, one fighter was killed and five Palestinian were wounded in an Israeli shelling that targeted a group of fighters in Al-Zaitoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City.

The fighter was identified as Mohammad Khamees Odah, 28, member of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas movement. Five residents were injured in the shelling. On Tuesday evening, resident Zayid Abu Wadi, 23, died of wounds sustained during the shelling which at the time led to the death of Odah, medical sources reported.
 
A fifth resident, identified as Ali Al-Dahdouh, 32, was killed when the army shot him in his head as he was driving his car in Juhr Al-Deek area.
 
The Israeli army claimed that the shelling targeted fighters who fired homemade shells into adjacent Israeli areas.
 
Also on Tuesday, the army invaded Al-Maghazi refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip, and bulldozed farmlands in the area. 
 
Updated from:

Separate Israeli occupation army attacks on Gaza leave three killed

by: Rami Almeghari, Tue, 20 May 2008 09:40:16
 
    Israeli occupation army attacks on Gaza Tuesday left three Palestinians killed including a 13-year-old child, a farmer and a resistance fighter.
 
Medical sources said Tuesday afternoon that the number of those killed on Tuesday during separate Israeli army attacks on the Gaza Strip, mounted to three after a Hamas resistance fighter was killed in an Israeli tank opened fire on the eastern Gaza neighborhood of Al-Zaytoun.
 
Dr. Mo'awiya Abu Hassanain, chief of emergency department at the Gaza's health ministry, said that at least a body of one Palestinian arrived dismembered at the Gaza's Shifa hospital. Hamas's armed wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, confirmed that Mohammad Odah, a 25-year-old fighter was killed Tuesday afternoon, and that three others were wounded during an Israeli occupation army tank shelling to the east of Gaza city.
 
Earlier in the day, two separate Israeli air strikes claimed the lives of two residents in the northern Gaza Strip city of Beit Lahiya and the Johor Al-Deek village in central Gaza Strip. Medical sources confirmed that Majd Abu Okal, a 13-year-old child from the northern Gaza Strip city of Beit Lahiya, was killed instantly after sustaining a rocket shrapnel.
 
The sources said that another resident was also wounded by the same shrapnel. Witnesses in Beit Lahiya said that an Israeli warplane fired at least one missile towards a group of people, killing the child and wounding one man at least.
 
Israeli army announced earlier that an air strike targeted a number of resistance fighters on Gaza-Israel border lines in Beit Lahiya. In the Johr Al-Deek village on the central Gaza-Israel border lines , a separate air strike killed a farmer, witnesses and medics said.
 
Meanwhile, witnesses said that three Israeli tanks, accompanied by a bulldozer, rolled earlier on Tuesday dawn into the central Gaza Strip refugee camp of Maghazi, under a barrage of heavy gunfire. The witnesses added that the bulldozer began razing Palestinian-owned farm lands just close to the border fence with Israel, to the east of the camp.
 
Today's Israeli attacks came while Hamas officials are holding a new round of ceasefire talks with Egyptian mediators in Cairo, as Israeli media reports hinted over the weekend at a likely Israeli army large offensive on Gaza.

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