Following night airstrike, Israeli bulldozers invade Gaza

Published today (updated) 04/09/2009 11:21 Gaza – Ma’an –

Israeli occupation forces warplanes bombed a tunnel allegedly linking the southern Gaza Strip with Israel early on Friday morning.

Also on Friday, witnesses in Gaza said Israeli military vehicles, including three armored bulldozers, razed farmland about 100 meters east of Gaza City. Israeli occupation forces also reportedly fired on houses in the area.

The overnight strike took place in the town of Al-Khuza’a, close to the Green Line. Medical officials at An-Nasser Hospital in the nearby city of Khan Younis said that while the strike caused a state of panic among residents of the area, there were no physical injuries.

According to the Israeli military, the tunnel was dug from a building 1.5 kilometers from the Green Line, although this could not be verified. The military also said the strike was a response to mortar shells that were fired from northern Gaza on Thursday night.

Israeli news reports said that five mortar shells were fired from Gaza, landing in an open area.

Police: Israeli occupation forces kidnap five Palestinians, assault one overnight

Published today (updated) 04/09/2009 13:37

Ramallah – Ma’an –

Israeli occupation forces seized five Palestinians from the West Bank in the past 12 hours, according to Palestinian police and witnesses.

Palestinian police said that Israeli occupation soldiers raided the small village of Nahalin, west of Bethlehem and detained Nahed Muhammad Hassan Zidan, 17, and Muhammad Musa Hassan Ghayatha, 17. The two teens were taken to an undisclosed location.

Police also reported that in the city of Hebron, illegal Israeli settlers threw stones and sewage water at Palestinians in the Al-Qasaba neighborhood of the Old City.

In Hebron, the police reported that illegal Israeli settlers at Al-Qasaba neighborhood in the old city they attacked people with stones and dirty water.

Palestinian police also reported that soldiers invaded the village of Beit Fouriq, near the city of Nablus, because they heard an explosion in the area. After a search the Israeli occupation forces kidnapped Ala Hamdi Basasrah, 19, and Hamadah Abdul Rahman Khatatbeh, 19.

In the village of Huwwara, Israeli occupation soldiers beat Zahi Mustafa Ibrahim Adli, 22. Adli was taken to Rafidia Hospital in neighboring Nablus.

In the city of Tulkarem, Israeli occupation forces kidnapped Muhammad Al-Jarmi, 27, during an overnight raid on his house. He, like the other detainees, is being held at an unknown location.

Checkpoints become friction points as Palestinians throng Jerusalem

Published today (updated) 04/09/2009 12:01 

Jerusalem – Ma’an –

Israel deployed police heavily in Jerusalem as tens of thousands of Palestinians headed to the city for noon prayers on the second Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Armed police and border guards were seen in what seemed like every street and alley of Old City surrounding cities.

For Palestinians from the West Bank, Friday was a rare chance to visit their capital and pray at Islam’s third holiest site: the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Thousands of Palestinians from Jerusalem and communities inside Israel were also expected.

According to Israeli restrictions, however, men under the age of 50 and women under 45 are still banned from entering the city and from praying at the mosque.

Nonetheless the surge of aspiring Muslim worshippers caused havoc at the few points where West Bank residents can enter Jerusalem.

As early as 8am, Palestinians from across the southern West Bank jammed into the concrete and barbed wire terminal, tangling traffic in area. Passage into Jerusalem slowed to a crawl as Israeli soldiers intensively checked each person’s ID card and passed their possessions through metal detectors.

Last Friday the Waqf, the Islamic endowment, estimated that 170,000 people prayed at the Al-Aqsa compound. Israeli police put the figure at 90,000.

Muslims worldwide are ending the second week of Ramadan, a month of dawn-to-dusk fasting and prayer.