3 Palestinians Missing, 3 Injured in Israeli Air Strikes on Rafah

Israeli troops wound two Palestinians including child in West Bank and Gaza

[ 02/02/2010 - 05:53 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Clashes between the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) and Palestinians on Monday led to the injury of two citizens including a 10-year-old child in the West Bank village of Ni’lin and east of the Gaza Strip.

According to B’Tselem organization, an Israeli soldier fired deliberately at very close range a rubber-coated bullet at the head of a Palestinian student in fourth grade called Mu’ataz Al-Khawaja during an anti-wall protest in Ni’lin village.

Testimonies given to B'Tselem indicated that during the protest, young people and children from the village clashed with Israeli soldiers and border police officers, when one of them approached the child and fired the rubber bullet at him.

The boy was wounded in the head and taken to a medical clinic in the village. He was later taken to a hospital in Ramallah.

Another Palestinian citizen was also wounded on the same day by Israeli gunfire east of Gaza city during armed clashes between IOF troops and resistance fighters north of Nahal Oz military post in Al-Shujaiya area.

A medical source told the reporter of the Palestinian information center (PIC) that the citizen was moderately wounded and transferred to Al-Shifa hospital in the city.

In a separate incident, the IOF troops kidnapped on Monday morning a Palestinian citizen after he was shot by them near Kissufim military post, southeast of Gaza. They reportedly transferred him to an Israeli hospital for treatment.

The IOF troops claimed that the citizen tried to approach the security fence in central Gaza.

At dawn Tuesday, the IOF troops reportedly kidnapped eight Palestinian citizens in occupied Jerusalem and Jenin.

Eyewitness from Al-Ayzariya town in Jerusalem reported that six Israeli military patrols chased four Palestinian young men aboard a car before kidnapping them, adding that the Israeli soldiers, before detaining them, brutally beat them in front of other citizens.

In Jenin city, four other citizens were also kidnapped after their homes were stormed and ransacked by the IOF troops in the villages of Kafr Ra’ee and Seila.

In another incident, the Israeli court in Salem military post sentenced Palestinian female prisoner Aisha Al-Ebayat, 22, to three years in prison and imposed on her a fine of about $500 on various charges, according to the lawyer of the Palestinian prisoner society.

Ebayat had spent six years in Israeli jails and was released in August 2008, but she was detained again last September 2009 at the pretext that she tried to kidnap an Israeli soldier.

Israeli jets strike southern Gaza

Published today (updated) 03/02/2010 13:55

Bethlehem – Ma'an –

Israeli occupation forces warplanes carried out airstrikes on at least two targets in the southern Gaza Strip overnight, witnesses said and the Israeli military confirmed.

Three Palestinians were reportedly wounded and three others reported missing shortly after six separate strikes, which targeted the Yasser Arafat International Airport in Dahaniya and a tunnel along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Israeli occupation forces launched the strikes "in response for the attempted naval attacks in southern Israel and recent rocket attacks," an Israeli military spokesman said in a statement over the phone.

The official added that the army confirmed direct hits on both targets, which he alleged included a tunnel used for smuggling weapons and a "terror tunnel" on the border meant for carrying out attacks in Israel.

A homemade projectile landed in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council in southern Israel on Tuesday afternoon, Israeli media reported. Residents heard a loud blast at around 3pm and a Color Red siren was sounded, the Hebrew-language daily daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported. No damage or injuries were reported.

On Monday, two explosive devices were reportedly found on separate beaches in southern Israel. Israeli security sources linked the discoveries to an announcement by a coalition of Palestinian operatives who told Ma'an they launched eight shells at the port of Ashkelon between 29-30 January.

That attack was said to be in response to the assassinations of three prominent Fatah operatives in Nablus in late December, which Israel said was in retaliation for the shooting death of a West Bank settler leader.

(Gazans started digging tunnels to get food from the Egyptian side of the border after the Israel occupation government had imposed a brutal siege on Gaza Strip in 2006).

Israel Bombards Seven Areas In Gaza, Carries Limited Invasion

Wednesday February 03, 2010 11:29 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The Israeli occupation forces planes bombarded, on Wednesday at dawn, seven areas in the Gaza Strip and wounded at least three residents. The army also carried out a limited invasion into northern Gaza. The attacks targeted border areas, and the Gaza International Airport.

Palestinian medical sources at the Abu Yousuf Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, reported that three residents were located under the rubble of a siege-busting tunnel in Al-Jaradat area, east of Rafah.

The sources described that the injuries of the residents as mild-to-moderate. They were in a tunnel that was bombarded by the Israeli occupation army.

An Israeli occupation army spokesperson said that the attacks targeted two tunnels, and added that the shelling comes in retaliation to Palestinian homemade shells fired into adjacent Israeli areas.

Furthermore, the army also bombarded the Gaza International Airport, in Rafah.

The airport was shut down since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in late September 2000.

It was repeatedly attacked and bombarded by the Israeli army, while army bulldozers also bulldozed its runways and demolished several buildings.

Furthermore, a number of Israeli military vehicles carried out a limited invasion into the former Dougit settlement, in Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

The army also fired shells into different directions causing damage to a number of buildings.

Local sources reported that four talks and a military bulldozer advanced 200 meters into the area and leveled some structures.

PRC's Abu Mujahid denies claims of joint Asqalan mission

Published today (updated) 03/02/2010 14:09

Gaza – Ma'an –

The armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, the Al-Nasser Salahuddin Brigades, denied having any part in the explosive devices found Monday on the Asqalan (Ashkelon) beach, spokesman Abu Mujahid announced Wednesday.

A joint statement was issued on 1 February by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Fatah, Islamic Jihad's armed group the Al-Quds Brigades, and the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, the An-Nasser Salahuddin Brigades, saying they had collectively fired eight shells at the port of Ashkelon.

The statement was delivered by Abu Abdallah Al-Shayshany, a second An-Nasser Brigades leader, and confirmed during an interview on Tuesday.

The An-Nasser Brigades sent a statement Wednesday, however, accusing an "unknown group" of "acting in the name of the brigades and releasing statements under the name of the armed wing." The statement reiterated, "we did not release any statement concerning claiming this act."

Abu Muhajid also sent a warning to "anyone who would act under" their name, and disavowed themselves of any responsibility for any statement that "is released by anyone other than the authorized individuals."

The Israeli air force launched two strikes against Gaza on Wednesday morning, saying the hits were in retaliation for the Asqalan explosives.

Worker killed in tunnel collapse at Rafah

Published today (updated) 03/02/2010 13:25

Gaza – Ma'an –

A tunnel underneath the Egypt-Rafah border collapsed killing a young man from Jabaliya on Wednesday, bringing to three the number of tunnel-related deaths already in 2010.

Muawiya Hassanain, director of ambulance and emergency service in Gaza Strip hospitals, identified the young man as 21-year-old Mahrous An-Nathir. He was evacuated to Abu Yousif An-Najjar Hospital in Rafah where he was pronounced dead.

According to medics, the tunnel was in the Al-Qassas area west of the Salahuddin Gate.

The death is the second in a week, following the electrocution of 23-year-old Ashraf Al-Attar o Saturday.

In 2009, 139 young men were killed during their work in the tunnels.

(Gazans started digging tunnels to get food from the Egyptian side of the border after the Israel occupation government had imposed a brutal siege on Gaza Strip in 2006).