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| Conflict |
Rafah shelling kills prominent member of the Al Quds Brigades
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 5/1/2008
The Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, reported that the Wednesday evening Israeli shelling which targeted a workshop in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, killed one of its prominent leaders; five Palestinians including two children were wounded, at least two seriously. The Brigades stated that the Israeli air force fired a missile at a blacksmith workshop in Rafah killing the fighter and wounding five others. The workshop was completely destroyed and damage to several surrounding houses was reported. Medical sources in Rafah reported that residents Karam Hammad, 23, and Osama Al Hooby, 25, suffered serious injuries. The sources added that two children, identified as Ahmad Salah, 10, and his brother Amjad Salah, 11, suffered moderate wounds. All of the wounded residents were moved to Abu Yousef Al Najjar Hospital in Rafah. more.. e-mail
12 Qassam rockets hit western Negev
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 4/30/2008
Sderot, Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council residents begin their day with rocket salvo, yet again. No injuries, damage reported in any of rocket landings - Residents of the western Negev communities were awakened by a series of Color Red alerts Wednesday, as a dozen Qassam rockets fired from northern Gaza hit the area. No injuries or damage were reported. At around 7:00 am, two rockets landed near a kibbutz in Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council. A third rocket followed within 30 minutes. An hour and-a-half later, three more rockets were fired: One landed near a Sderot school, the second landed in Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council’s industrial area and the third in an open area. Around 2 pm, the Palestinians fired four rockets at Israel. One landed in Sdot Negev Regional Council limits, another in Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council limits and the third near Sderot. more.. e-mail
Palestinian groups shell Israeli areas near Gaza despite news of ceasefire
Ma’an News Agency 4/30/2008
Gaza Ma’an Palestinian military groups continued to launch homemade projectiles and mortar shells into Israel from the Gaza Strip despite news that the factions had agreed during talks in Egypt on a ceasefire. The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, and the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, said that their fighters fired barrages of projectiles and mortars at the Israeli cities of Sderot and Ashkelon in the western Negev. It appears that Palestinian factions are awaiting for the official announcement of a ceasefire before holding their fire. Meanwhile, Israeli sources reported that 12 homemade projectiles and 3 mortar shells landed in Negev towns. One homemade projectile landed near a school in Sderot and another landed in the hills outside the town, causing a fire. more.. e-mail
Palestinians: Militant killed, 3 others hurt in IAF strike on Gaza
The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 4/30/2008
An Israel Air Force aircraft attacked a metal workshop in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, killing an Islamic Jihad top militant and wounding three other people, Palestinian officials said. The attack came as Palestinian militant groups agreed in principle to a cease-fire with Israel. Shortly before the air strike, Hamas’ prime minister in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyeh, had said the "ball is in the Israeli court" to keep to the terms of the truce. The IDF confirmed the air strike in Rafah, a town located next to the Egyptian border. Residents said the air strike targeted a metal workshop close to border crossing with Egypt. Metal workshops are often used by militants to make homemade rockets. One witness said three helicopters hovered over the southern Gaza town and were fired at by Palestinian militants on the ground before the air strike took place. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces target Rafah shop in missile attack, kill one man, injure 6, including child
Palestine News Network 4/30/2008
Rafah / PNN - Medical sources and eyewitness reported Wednesday that Israeli forces killed one Palestinian and injured six others in a targeted hit in the southern Gaza Strip. The shop was for painting cars in Rafah. The man killed was a member of Saraya Al Quds, the armed resistance wing of Islamic Jihad. He was an employee of the workshop. A spokesperson for the party said today that two others among the injured were also members of Islamic Jihad. The Director of Ambulance and Emergency in the Palestinian Health Ministry, Dr. Hassanain said that the man killed was in his thirties and among the six injured was a child. Shrapnel fired from an Israeli missile led to the injuries and death. All were taken to a Rafah hospital. One of the injured is in critical condition. Eyewitnesses confirmed that an Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at a workshop for painting cars belonging to a man from the Tal Zo’rob neighborhood. more.. e-mail
Police, IDF troops demolish illegal outpost in West Bank
Nadav Shragai, Ha’aretz 4/30/2008
Police and Israel Defense Forces troops on Wednesday demolished an illegal outpost near the northern West Bank settlement of Kochav Hashachar. At the site, Maoz Esther, security forces dismantled a synagogue which had been constructed there without permit. It was built in memory of Yonadav Chaim Hirschfeld, who was killed in the terror attack at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem in March. The synagogue, which was not a permanent structure, was dedicated during the intermediate days of the Passover holiday. On Tuesday, police and the Civil Administration demolished a swimming pool which had been built without permit at a home in the Havat Yair outpost, near the northern West Bank settlement of Nofim. Head of the Samaria Regional Council Gershon Mesika lambasted the demolition. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces seize ten in raid on Askar refugee camp
Ma’an News Agency 4/30/2008
Nablus Ma’an Israeli forces seized ten young Palestinian men from Askar refugee camp east of the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday morningPalestinian security sources told Ma’an’s reporter in Nablus that Israeli troops stormed the camp from the east after midnight and ransacked several houses before seizing ten young men. [end]
Al-Aqsa Brigades fighter evades capture in Jenin
Ma’an News Agency 4/30/2008
Jenin Ma’an Israeli forces raided home of wanted Palestinian activist Ammar Abu Ghalyun in Jenin refugee camp after midnight on Wednesday. Ghalyun is affiliated to Fatah’s armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Brigades. Local sources told Ma’an’s reporter that undercover Israeli forces entered the camp after midnight in three Palestinian-plated cars at midnight and surrounded Abu Ghalyun’s house. Then more than 20 Israeli military vehicles invaded the camp and closed all its entrances amidst heavy gunfire. They ordered Abu Ghalun through a loudspeaker to turn himself over. They recieved no answer because he was not at home. Local sources added that after a number of unanswered calls, the soldiers broke into the house and damaged its interior as they searched for Abu Ghalun. When they failed to find him in his own home, the Israeli troops broke into neighboring houses and searched them, again in vain. more.. e-mail
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Gaza survive an Israeli missile attack
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 4/30/2008
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshot of Fatah party in Gaza survived on Wednesday an Israeli missile attack in the northern Gaza Strip city of Beit Hanoun. In a statement, faxed to press, the brigades confirmed that a number of their fighters survived early on Wednesday morning an Israeli land-to-land missile just near the Agriculture college in the Beit Hanoun city in northern Gaza Strip. The statement also read that the brigades’ fighters managed to launch two homemade shells onto the nearby Israeli town of Sderot. " the aL-Aqsa brigades is determined to keep up in the path of resistance until the Israeli occupation comes to an end", the statement further read. Over the past five months, the Israeli army has stepped up attacks on Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza, in what Israel says ’crackdown on launchers of homemade shells’. more.. e-mail
Sderot: Qassams hit during Holocaust ceremony
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 4/30/2008
Two rockets fall in Negev town after Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony opens in sheltered cultural center. Mayor: Our answer to terrorism is not being afraid -Two Qassam rockets landed in an open area near Sderot Wednesday night shortly after the Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony began in the western Negev town’s sheltered cultural center. No injuries or casualties were reported. The western Negev was hit with 15 Qassam rockets since the morning hours. Mayor of Sderot, Eli Moyal, told Ynet that "While the IDF Central and Southern Commands asked us to take precautions, they permitted us to hold the ceremony opposite the Holocaust monument in Sderot. On Wednesday morning we received many requests from Holocaust survivors who reside in Sderot asking us to move the ceremony to the cultural center. more.. e-mail
Undercover Israeli forces seize Fatah activist in Ramallah
Ma’an News Agency 4/30/2008
Ramallah Ma’an Israeli forces seized a Fatah-affiliated activist in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday. Local sources told Ma’an that an undercover Israeli force entered the Ash-Sharafa neighborhood of Ramallah near Al-Am’ary refugee camp and seized 27-year-old Muhammad Da’amin who has been pursued by the Israelis for five years. Local sources said the Da’amin have evaded previous attempts at his arrest. [end]
Palestinian fighters launch barrage of projectiles and mortars into Israel
Ma’an News Agency 4/30/2008
Gaza Ma’an Several Palestinian military organizations fired barrages of homemade projectiles at Israeli towns bordering the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, the groups said. Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades said on Wednesday that their fighters launched three homemade projectiles at the town of Sderot. Separately, another group affiliated to Fatah, the Al-Mujahidin Brigades, claimed responsibility on Tuesday evening for launching two mortar shells at the Israeli military post at Nahal Oz. A third Fatah-affiliated group called the Abu Ammar Brigades said its fighters launched two homemade projectiles at Sderot on Tuesday evening. For their part, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, said their fighters fired five mortar shells at Nahal Oz at midnight on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the. . . more.. e-mail
IOA decides to wipe out Palestinian village
Palestinian Information Center 4/30/2008
JENIN, (PIC)-- Apparently bowing to pressures from the Israeli military institution, the Israeli high court issued a ruling entitling the Israeli occupation authority to confiscate most of the land in the Palestinian village of Al-Aqaba that overlooks the Jordanian valley. Palestinian villagers dwelling in the city accused the Israeli court of prejudice, affirming that the Israeli occupation army wants their land to use it for military purposes. The village is situated in a strategic location overlooking the Jordanian valley region near the West Bank city of Tobas. Sami Sadek, the head of the village’s municipal council, explained that the IOA presented a new structural scheme that sharply reduced the total area of the village from 3,500 dunums (1 dunum= 1000 sq meter) to 100 dunums only, spurring the villagers to file a protest with the high court against the said plan. more.. e-mail
As Qassams pound Negev, Sderot residents urge boycott of Independence Day
Mijal Greenberg, and Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 5/1/2008
As the Qassam rocket barrage on Israel continued on Wednesday, a group of residents of the rocket-stricken town of Sderot called for a boycott of the Independence Day celebrations, scheduled for next week. At least ten rockets and three mortar shells were fired on Wednesday at the western Negev from the Northern Gaza Strip. There were no injuries reported in any of the incidents, but a woman and child were treated for shock when a rocket struck the Ashkelon regional council. Two of the Qassams sparked a fire in an open area near Sderot on Wednesday, another struck next to a school in the southern town, and another hit the Sha’ar Hanegev regional council’s Industrial district. None of these rocket attacks caused casualties or property damage. Yossi Timsit, whose wife was seriously injured after a Qassam rocket hit their. . . more.. e-mail
Former Shin Bet figure: Why didn’t guards protect Barak?
Yossi Verter, Ha’aretz 5/1/2008
A former senior Shin Bet security service officer yesterday blasted bodyguards from the service for failing to protect party leader and defense minister Ehud Barak at a violent incident earlier this week, in what he called "an extremely serious security and protection failure." Shin Bet guards stood by while a Labor Party activist attacked Barak and Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon at a gathering at the party’s headquarters in Tel Aviv on Monday. Sami Shoshan, a brother-in-law of former party leader Amir Peretz’s reportedly assaulted Barak and Simhon, slamming a microphone in Simhon’s face and snatching a microphone from Barak. Eyewitnesses said Barak was injured, but throughout the incident, which lasted several minutes, the security guards refrained from intervening or protecting Barak, as is their duty. more.. e-mail
Palestine Today 043008
Aaron Lakoff, International Middle East Media Center News 4/30/2008
Click here to download or play MP3 file| 3. 66 MB | 4m 0s Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Thursday April 10th, 2008. The Israeli army invades Gaza and attacks farmers, while in the West Bank Israeli troops kidnap 10 civilians, these stories and more coming up stay tuned. On Wednesday morning at approximately 1am, Israeli troops raided the Al Shariya girls orphanage and school in the southern West Bank city of Hebron. They destroyed a sewing workshop in the school’s basement. The raid came after an ultimatum of April 28th was given by the Israeli army General of Command to close and evacuate all properties and institutions funded by the Islamic Charitable Society, including the Al Shariya school. The Israel army claims that the ICS has ties to Hamas, but the society denies this allegation. more.. e-mail
Israeli snipers kill Palestinian young man in Beit Hanoun
Palestinian Information Center 4/29/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The IOF troops killed Monday evening a Palestinian young man called Mu’ad Al-Akhras, 21, near the Nada towers in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip. According to medical sources, Akhras sustained gunshot wounds in his chest and head fired by IOF snipers who are deployed on the borders between northern Gaza and the Palestinian lands occupied in 1948. The IOF troops killed earlier Monday seven Palestinians including a mother and her four children from the family of Abu Ma’taq after their house was pounded by three projectiles fired by Israeli tanks that also led to the injury of 13 citizens. The Palestinian masses of the northern Gaza Strip marched on the same day in the funeral procession of Abu Ma’taq family and bid farewell to the Palestinian mother and her four children. more.. e-mail
Killing of young man brings Beit Hanoun death toll to eight
Ma’an News Agency 4/29/2008
Gaza Ma’an Israeli troops killed a young Palestinian man, 22-year-old Mu’adh Al-Akhras, in the An-Nada neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday evening, witnesses and medical sources. Muawiya Hassanain, the director of ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian Health Ministry, said the victim was taken to Kamal Udwan Hospital in the town of Beit Hanoun. Eyewitnesses said the Israeli troops continued to fire at residential houses in the area. Israeli tanks and aircraft invaded Beit Hanoun early on Monday and bombarded the town until evening. Eight Palestinians were killed in the incursion, including a mother and her four young children, a teenager on his way to school, and one armed fighter. Palestinian leaders condemned the killings, terming Monday’s events a "massacre. more.. e-mail
Qassam hits Sderot home; residents treated for shock
Mijal Grinberg, Ha’aretz 4/30/2008
Nine Qassam rockets and six mortar shells fired from Gaza slammed into the western Negev Tuesday morning causing damage at three different locations, but no injuries. One of the Qassams directly hit a house in Sderot, while it was empty. There were no injuries in the attack, but a few people were treated for shock. Earlier Tuesday, a Qassam hit a guard post at Sha’ar Negev Kibbutz while another rocket hit an infirmary at another Kibbutz. On Monday, at least 18 rockets and dozens of mortar shells were fired at Israel from Gaza Monday, IDF sources said. The rocket attack comes in the wake of the death of a Palestinian woman and her four small children in their home in Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip during an Israel Defense Forces operation in the area. more.. e-mail
IOF shelling knock out Beit Hanun electricity transformer
Palestinian Information Center 4/29/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- IOF shelling of the Beit Hanun electricity transformer station during its incursion into the town in northern Gaza on Monday knocked out power in the area and paralyzed water supplies. A Hamas statement on Tuesday charged the Israeli occupation forces with deliberately targeting the transformer station in line with the policy of tightening the siege on Gaza. It said that around 200,000 citizens in northern Gaza spent Monday night in complete darkness and are still suffering from electricity outage and lack of water for 24 hours, which also affected work in hospitals and clinics. Attempts to repair the transformer went in vain because the IOF troops continued to shell the vicinity, Hamas said, and held the "Zionist enemy" responsible for the catastrophic results of continued electricity blackout for the second consecutive day. more.. e-mail
Settlers attack Palestinian homes near Hebron
Ghassan Banoura, International Middle East Media Center News 4/29/2008
A group of radical Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian homes located in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Tuesday at dawn. Witnesses reported that a dozen armed Israeli settlers from the illegal Qiryat Arba settlement, located in the eastern part of Hebron, hurled stones and empty glass bottles at residents’ homes and cars. Witnesses added that several homes sustained damage and a number of cars were also wrecked in the attack. The settlers also attempted to set fire to a number of homes, but the residents defended them and managed to make the settlers leave the area. [end]
Israeli forces raid Qarawat Bani Zeid, near Ramallah
Ma’an News Agency 4/29/2008
Ramallah Ma’an Israeli forces on Tuesday morning invaded the West Bank village of Qarawat Bani Zeid, north of the city of Ramallah. Palestinian journalist Yahya Nafi’ told Ma’an that Israeli troops searched and ransacked Palestinian homes. The Israeli soldiers did not say who they were looking for. They also erected a flying checkpoint at the entrance to the village impeding residents’ movement and searching them as they move in and out of the community. Qarawat Bani Zeid is located on the main road between Ramallah and the towns of the northern West Bank. [end]
Israeli forces seize 12 Palestinians in West Bank raids
Ma’an News Agency 4/29/2008
Ramallah Ma’an Israeli forces seized 12 several Palestinians in the West Bank on Tuesday morning, the Israeli military said. Palestinian security sources identified the arrestees as being from Al-Am’ari refugee camp near Ramallah, and Al-Ezariyya and Abu Dis in East Jerusalem. Others were seized in Tulkarem, Qalqilia and Nablus and Jericho. [end]
Al-Mujahidin Brigades fire four homemade projectiles at Israeli sites
Ma’an News Agency 4/29/2008
Gaza Ma’an The Al-Mujahidin Brigades, an armed group linked to Fatah, claimed on Tuesday morning that their fighters launched four homemade projectiles at Israeli targets near the Gaza Strip. They said in a statement that two projectiles were launched at the Nahal Oz military position and two others at the Kerem Shalom border crossing. The statement added that the shelling was part of "the Palestinian resistance’s retaliation for Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people, the last of which was in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday. " [end]
PFLP’s military wing fires projectile at Sderot
Ma’an News Agency 4/29/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades claimed responsibility on Tuesday for firing a homemade projectile at the Israeli town of Sderot, near the Gaza Strip. They said in a statement that the shelling came in retaliation for ongoing Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people. [end]
Qassams, mortars rain on western Negev
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 4/29/2008
Projectile attacks on Israel renewed after brief lull over afternoon, in all over 15 rockets, 20 mortar shells fired from Gaza on Tuesday - Palestinian rocket attacks against southern Israel resumed on Tuesday evening after a short respite. The barrage was launched in the early evening hours, with two Qassam rockets and eight mortar shells landing in and around communities in the western Negev. The rockets landed south of Ashkelon and in the Sha’ar HaNegev and Eshkol Regional Councils. No injuries were reported and no damage was caused. In all, over 20 mortar shells and 15 Qassam rockets have been fired towards Israel throughout the course of the day. Magen David Adom emergency crews tended to five people who were lightly wounded by rockets in Sderot, including one woman who injured her leg while running for cover. more.. e-mail
Qassam rockets, mortar shells hit Negev
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 4/29/2008
Gaza vicinity residents wake up to another morning of rocket alerts. Ten Qassams fired from Strip; one directly hits house in Sderot, several people sustain light injuries. Mortar lands near clinic, causing light damage -Gaza vicinity residents awake to another morning of rocket fire: Palestinians fired 10 Qassam rockets towards Israel on Tuesday morning. Four of the rockets exploded in Sderot and the area, one directly hitting a house, causing damage. Three people sustained light wounds. Magen David Adom emergency crews tended to three people in Sderot, including a woman who hurt her leg while running to take shelter. She was evacuated to the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon. Two people were treated for shock. Five rockets exploded within the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council. more.. e-mail
PRC’s military wing launches projectiles and mortars at Israeli targets bordering Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 4/29/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, claimed responsibility on Tuesday morning for firing six homemade projectiles and two mortar shells at Israeli targets east of the city of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. The military group said in a statement that they fired two mortar shells at Israeli forces east of Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, two homemade projectiles at the Nirim Kibbutz, two more at the Nir Oz Kibbutz and two at the Kisifim military installation. The statement said the shelling was in retaliation for Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people in the West bank and the Gaza Strip. more.. e-mail
Israeli soldier injured in shooting near Nablus, Al-Aqsa Brigades claim
Ma’an News Agency 4/29/2008
Nablus Ma’an The armed wing of Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, claimed on Monday evening that their fighters shot and injured an Israeli soldier near the Huwwara intersections south of the West Bank city of Nablus. The Al-Aqsa Brigades’ northern West Bank spokesperson, Abu Mujahid, told Ma’an that a group of fighters opened fire at an Israeli settler’s and then fired at a military patrol to aid the settlers. However, Israeli sources did mention any injured soldiers in that area. Israeli forces later stormed the village of Beita, also near Nablus, imposing a curfew. [end]
Israeli forces seize two Palestinians in Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camp
Ma’an News Agency 4/29/2008
Tulkarem Ma’an Israeli forces seized two young Palestinian men from the West Bank city of Tulkarem and nearby Nur Shams refugee camp on Tuesday morning. Israeli troops entered the city and broke into the home of Imad Safi, damaging objects in the house and abducting 22-year-old Safi Safi. In Nur Shams camp, Israeli soldiers seized 20-year-old Mu’min Nabrisi who was released from an Israeli jail just two months ago after serving three and a half years. [end]
Planned settlement in East Jerusalem an attempt to negate Palestinian claims to their capital, researchers say
Ma’an News Agency 4/29/2008
Bethlehem Ma’an A new illegal Israeli settlement planned in occupied East Jerusalem is a part of a plan conceived by former Israeli leader Ariel Sharon to negate Palestinians claims to Jerusalem as their capital, researchers in Jerusalem are saying. On Monday, Israeli and Palestinian media reported that the Israeli police will allow right-wing settlers to take up residence in a former police station in East Jerusalem’s Ras Al-Amoud neighborhood. The site of the police headquarters will become the nucleus of a new settlement called "Ma’ale David. " According to the Mapping and GIS Department of the Arab Studies Society, a research center in Jerusalem, Israeli planners have already approved the construction of a the new settlement. Maps obtained by the Arab Studies Society show a plan for 110 housing units on approximately 10 dunams of land. more.. e-mail
Palestine Today 042908
Aaron Lakoff, International Middle East Media Center News 4/29/2008
Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Tuesday, April 29, 2008. On Tuesday The Israeli High Court of Justice in Jerusalem ruled against the villagers of Al Aqaba. Al Aqaba village is located in the northern part of the West Bank. Two years ago the Israeli army issued orders in Al Aqaba cutting permission for Palestinian home construction from 3000 dunums of land to just 100. The villagers contested this action in the Israeli Court, which today ruled in the Israelis Army’s favour. The Al Aqaba village council stated that at least 60 per cent of village homes face demolition as a result of the decision. The council added that the army has already distributed demolition orders to all the houses outside the permitted 100 dunums. According to the village council, the Israeli army wants the land due to its strategic importance for military training. more.. e-mail
Ex-worker may have carried out Nitzanei Oz shooting
Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 4/30/2008
Security officials are examining the possibility that Friday’s shooting attack at the Nitzanei Oz industrial zone, in which two Israeli civilians were killed, was carried out by a disgruntled former employee at one of the factories there. There has been a lot of tension in recent years between Palestinian employees and Israeli employers at the industrial zone near the West Bank city of Tul Karm, with many cases of Palestinian workers arguing that they were not receiving their full salaries or benefits. Several Palestinian groups have claimed responsibility for the attack, but so far there has been no evidence linking any of the groups to the shooting. However, the IDF is also examining the possibility that the Tul Karm network of one of the organizations, Islamic Jihad, is behind the attack. Since the shooting, the Israel Defense Forces has arrested several Palestinians in Tul Karm. more.. e-mail
Israeli army intends to lower the scale of operations in Gaza
Ghassan Banoura, International Middle East Media Center News 4/29/2008
Israeli security sources reported on Tuesday that the Israeli army intends to lower the scale of military operations targeting the Gaza Strip in coming days in order to avoid any possible escalation in the region during the Israeli holidays. Israeli radio reported that despite the tragic accident in Beit Hanoun on Monday, which left seven civilians dead, including four children, Hamas will not create an escalation. Rather than to militarily engage Israel for the time being, the movement has decided to wait for the Egyptian mediation efforts to broker a truce between Hamas and Israel. [end]
New Israeli settlement to block route from East Jerusalem to West Bank
Palestine News Network 4/28/2008
Jerusalem / PNN -- The Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reported that buildings now belonging to the Israeli police in East Jerusalem will soon be given to Jewish settlers. This is another move on the part of the Israelis to entirely overtake Jerusalem and convert the West Bank into a series of cantons, Palestinian officials report. President Abbas, the people, and other officials are clear to point out that the Israeli settlement policy is a major blocking point in the ’peace process. ’ These buildings in the Ras Al Amud neighborhood were used as the Israeli police headquarters in the West Bank which will soon be transferred to the hill between Jerusalem and the settlement of "Ma’aleh Adumim," a distance of about 10 kilometers east of the holy city. Agence France Presse reported that the buildings will be handed to the Assembly of the Salvation of Jerusalem, which now requested. . . -- See also: Police move to new HQ east of Jerusalem, Ha'aretz, 4/28/2008 and Settlers to move into E. J'lem police HQ, Ha'aretz, 4/28/2008 more.. e-mail
Lebanese army: 12 Israeli jets flew over Beirut
Associated Press, YNetNews 4/28/2008
Tensions in the north? Lebanon says ’enemy’ airplanes violated its airspace Monday, flew over Lebanese cities; Meanwhile, Israel complains that UNIFIL forces fail to report illegal Hizbullah activities - The Lebanese army reported that Israeli Air Force jets flew over Beirut on Monday. The army said in a statement that 12 "enemy" Israeli warplanes violated Lebanese airspace before noon Monday by flying missions over Beirut and elsewhere in the country. The IDF said it will not discuss its operational activities. The Lebanese statement added that four jets flew over the Mediterranean off the coastal city of Byblos in the north and headed toward the eastern province of Hermel, while eight other jets flew over the southern town of Rmeish, then headed north to Beirut, the Chouf Mountains, southeast of the capital, and Hermel before flying back to the "occupied territories. more.. e-mail
IDF: Gaza blast was caused by militants’ explosives
News Agencies, Ha’aretz 4/29/2008
The Israel Defense Forces said Monday that a blast that killed six Palestinian civilians in northern Gaza earlier in the day was not caused by an IDF tank shell, as the Palestinians had earlier reported, but was rather a result of militants’ explosives. The IDF investigated the incident, which left a Beit Hanoun mother and her four children dead along with a 17-year-old passerby, and concluded that the deadly explosion occurred when the Israel Air Force, targeting two Palestinian gunmen, fired a missile and hit the gunmen’s bags, which were full of ammunition. The missile caused the ammunition cache to explode with force, setting off a chain reaction of additional explosions. Palestinian medics identified the dead children as sisters Rudina and Hana Abu Meatik, ages 6 and 3; and their brothers, Saleh, 4 and Mousab, 15 months. more.. e-mail
An Israeli air strike on Gaza wounds four fighters
Rami Almeghari, International Middle East Media Center News 4/28/2008
An Israeli air strike wounded on Monday four Palestinian resistance fighters of the Popular Resistance Committees, while driving along the Salah Eldin main road in northern Gaza Strip. Dr. Mo’awiya Abu Hasanin, chief of emergency and ambulance service in Gaza said that four people were admitted to the Kamal Edwan hospital in northern Gaza Strip. The latest air strike came hours after the Israeli army tanks had killed earlier a mother and her four children in the Om Alnasser village in northern Gaza Strip. The military escalation on the ground comes as representatives of Palestinian resistance factions headed for Caior today for talks over possible ceasefire with Israel. Last Friday, the Israeli government dismissed the ceasefire offer, branding it a maneuver by the ruling Hamas part in Gaza to ’rearm and reorganize’. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces kill 6 more Palestinians in northern Gaza Strip
Palestine News Network 4/28/2008
Gaza / PNN -- Six Palestinians are dead and seven injured in the latest Israeli attack on the northern Gaza Strip, which have become a daily occurrence in addition to the siege. Hamas says this proves that Israel is not serious about reaching a calm. The party’s ousted Prime Minister Ismail Haniya issued a condemnation, as did President Abbas. The leftist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s armed resistance wing says that Israel has not intention of ceasing its attacks, while Saraya Al Quds of Islamic Jihad is among those mourning the loss of one of its members. A group of armed resistance members were targeted, as was a home in Beit Hanoun. Palestinian medical source confirmed on Monday that six Palestinians were killed, their bodies burned after being shelled by Israeli forces in eastern Beit Hanoun. more.. e-mail
Report: 3 hurt in IDF airstrike in Gaza
Ali Waked, YNetNews 4/28/2008
Palestinian sources report that IDF airstrike in northern Gaza wounds three Palestinians, one of them critically. Five Palestinians, including five members of the same family, killed by IDF shell in Beit Hanoun earlier Monday - Three Palestinians were wounded in an IDF airstrike in northern Gaza Monday afternoon, sources in Gaza reported. In addition to aerial operations, the IDF continued to operate on the ground in the Strip throughout Monday. A soldier was lightly wounded in his hand earlier during a clash with Palestinian gunmen and several missiles were launched at IDF tanks. Four Palestinian children, all members of one family, were killed earlier Monday in Israel Defense Forces strike in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources reported. According to the report, an IDF shell hit a house in the town of Beit Hanoun, killing four members of the Abu Meatak family. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces raid Ramallah
Ma’an News Agency 4/28/2008
Ramallah Ma’an Israeli forces invaded the central West Bank cities of Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Beitunia and the nearby Al-Jalazun refugee camp on Monday morning. Palestinian security sources stated that several Israeli military vehicles stormed the southern neighborhoods of Al-Bireh and patrolled the city’s streets. Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers ransacked several homes in Ramallah. The same sources explained that Israeli military vehicles roamed several neighborhoods in Beitunia and Al-Jalazun camp. No casualties or arrests have been reported. [end]
Four Palestinian fighters wounded by Israeli air bombardment in Beit Hanoun
Ma’an News Agency 4/28/2008
Gaza Ma’an An Israeli airstrike in the town of Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, left four Palestinian fighters wounded on Monday afternoon, medical sources said. The four fighters were affiliated with the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees. Mu’awiya Hassanain, the director of ambulance and emergency services, in the Palestinian Health Ministry told Ma’an that all the injured were evacuated to Kamal Udwan Hospital. Israeli tanks and warplanes invaded Beit Hanoun early on Monday morning, killing seven Palestinians, including a mother and her four young children. Tanks are still operating in the town at the time of writing. more.. e-mail
Palestinian military groups confronting ongoing Israeli incursions in the Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 4/28/2008
Gaza Ma’an Islamic Jihad’s military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades said on Monday that their fighters fired a rocket-propelled grenade at an Israeli military personnel carrier in a citrus grove in the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. A statement released by the Al-Quds Brigades said the operation came in retaliation for Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people. Separately, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, said that their fighters blocked an Israeli incursion attempt near the area of Al-Hawooz in the northern Gaza Strip. The group claimed that they injured Israeli soldiers during an exchange of fire. more.. e-mail
Palestinian fighters unleash barrage of projectiles and mortars at Israeli targets
Ma’an News Agency 4/28/2008
responsibility on Monday afternoon for launching five homemade projectiles and three mortar shells at the Israeli towns of Sderot and Netiv Ha’asara and at Israeli forces invading Beit Hanoun. Separately, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s (PFLP) military wing, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, said their fighters fired four homemade projectiles at Sderot. They also said they shot and injured an Israeli soldier. Moreover, the PFLP’s and Fatah’s military wings said their fighters fired mortar shells at Israeli military vehicles in the northern Gaza Strip. For their part, Islamic Jihad’s military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility for firing five mortar shells at Israeli military vehicles in the northern Gaza Strip. more.. e-mail
Gaza militants pound Negev with Qassams and mortar shells
Mijal Grinberg, Ha’aretz 4/29/2008
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Monday launched at least nine Qassam rockets and nine mortar shells at the Western Negev, just after an Israel Defense Forces strike on a house in the northern Strip town of Beit Hanoun killed at least six Palestinians. Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam brigades, said it fired three rockets at the Negev town of Sderot in response to the Beit Hanoun killings. Islamic Jihad and two other Palestinian factions said they launched several rockets before and after the home in Beit Hanoun was hit. One of the rockets exploded near a housing complex in Sderot. There were no injuries in the incident, but the building was damaged. Another rocket exploded in an open field near Kibbutz Gavim, sparking a fire. Of the nine mortar shells launched on Monday, the exploding sites of eight were located. more.. e-mail
Fatah’s military wing claims responsibility for projectile
Ma’an News Agency 4/28/2008
Gaza Ma’an A military group affiliated to the armed wing of Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, claimed responsibility on Sunday evening for launching a homemade projectile at the Israeli community of Yad Mordechai, north of the Gaza Strip. They said in a statement that the shelling came in retaliation for Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people. [end]
South under fire: More rockets fired from Gaza
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 4/28/2008
At least three rockets land near Sderot Monday night; overall, nearly 20 rockets fired at south throughout day - Rocket attacks continue:At least three rockets fired from the northern Gaza Strip landed in open areas near Sderot Monday night, and later a rocket landed near Nahal Oz. No injuries or damages were reported in the latest barrage. Overall, at least 19 rockets were fired at Israel’s south throughout the day. Monday afternoon, Palestinian terrorists fired at least seven rockets and one mortar shell at southern Israel, with two landing in open areas near Sderot. Another rocket landed in the Sdot Negev Regional Council. Two more rockets landed in Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, and one more landed in Palestinian territory. No injuries or damage were reported in the attacks. Terrorists have been firing Qassam rockets and mortar shells at Gaza-region communities. . . more.. e-mail
Right-wing Israeli settlers will move in to Palestinian town of Ras al-Amud
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 4/28/2008
In the next few days, a new Israeli settlement will be established in the Palestinian neighborhood of Ras al-Amud, east of Jerusalem, according to the former Israeli police commissioner Moshe Karadi. Israeli sources reported Monday that the new Israeli settlement will be constructed on land that is supposed to be part of future negotiations between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority. As is the case with most of the 300 settlements that Israel has built in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the construction is in direct violation of Israeli promises made during negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, in which Israeli officials promised to halt the construction of new settlements on stolen Palestinian land. But despite Israeli promises to the contrary, settlement construction has contininued unabated through all ’negotiation’ processes, until nearly 500,000 Israelis. . . more.. e-mail
Israeli forces close checkpoint near Ramallah after Palestinians fire on Israeli bus
Ma’an News Agency 4/28/2008
Bethlehem Ma’an Israeli forces on Sunday closed the Atara checkpoint north of the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday evening, ensnaring hundreds of cars in a traffic jam. Israeli soldiers stopped all traffic for more than two hours, Palestinians waiting at the roadblock said. School busses were reported to be among the vehicles waiting. Israeli sources said the closure of the checkpoint came after an Israeli bus came under fire in the area. No casualties were been reported in that incident. Fatah’s military wing claimed responsibility for the shooting saying it was in retaliation for Israeli attacks against the Palestinian people. Atara checkpoint lies at the northern entrance of the village of Bir Zeit, on one of the main routes between Ramallah and the city of Nablus. Israel maintains more than 500 checkpoints and other roadblocks in the occupied West Bank. more.. e-mail
Army kills seven Palestinians, including four toddlers and their mother in northern Gaza
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 4/28/2008
An Israeli shell tore through a Palestinian home in the northern Gaza Strip village of Izbit Abed-Rabo, near Beit Hanoun, early Monday morning, killing four siblings under the age of six and their mother. The army also killed one fighter, member of armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, and a 17-year old youth. Dr. Mo’awiya Abu Hasanin, chief of emergency and ambulance department at Gaza’s health ministry, confirmed that the four children and their mother were from the Moatiq family. The slain children were identified as Ahmed Abu Moatiq, 1 year old, Hanna, 3, Saleh, 4, Rodaina, 6. Also, resident Ayoub Atallah, 17, was killed and his friend Moatassim Sualem was seriously injured. Medical sources reported that Ibrahim al-Jahjouah, member of the Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, was killed as well - the shelling was apparently an extrajudicial assassination targeting him. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces destroy family at breakfast
Palestine News Network 4/28/2008
Gaza / One Democratic State Group - While the Abu Mu’attaq family in the northern town of Beit Hanoun was having breakfast, Israeli tanks shelled their house. The mother, Khadra Abu Mu’attaq, and herchildren, 8 year old Ahmed, three year old Hana, four year old Salih, six year old Rudayna, in addition to 17 year old Ayyoub Atalla, who was on his way to school, died on the spot. This latest war crime comes at a time when the Gaza Strip is witnessing its worst period since it was occupied in 1967. The heinous siege imposed on it has so far led to the killing of 140 terminally ill patients that were denied permits by the Israeli forces to be treated in West Bank hospitals. The severe shortages in fuel, electricity, medicine, water, food, amongst other things, have transformed the Strip into a waste land. more.. e-mail
Israeli tanks kill seven Palestinians, including mother and four young children, in Beit Hanoun
Ma’an News Agency 4/28/2008
Gaza Ma’an Seven Palestinians were killed, including a mother and her four young children, and at least seven others were injured when Israeli tanks shelled a house in the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday morning, witnesses and medics said. Palestinian medics identified the mother, Khadra Abu Mu’attaq, and her children Ahmad Abu Mu’attaq, three-year-old Hana Abu Mu’attaq, four-year-old Salih Abu Mu’attaq, and six-year-old Rudayna Abu Mu’attaq, medics reported. The family was inside the house, eating breakfast at the time of the shelling. A student, 17-year-old Ayyub Atallah, was killed on his way to school. His friend Mu’tasim Sweilim was injured. The sixth Palestinian killed was a member of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, named Ibrahim Al-Hjuj. more.. e-mail
Israeli fire ’kills four children in Gaza’
Reuters, The Independent 4/28/2008
Israeli fire hit a house in the Gaza Strip today while a family was eating breakfast, killing six Palestinians, including four children and their mother, residents and medical officials said. The deaths in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun cast another shadow on Egyptian efforts to forge a ceasefire between Israel and militant groups and end violence threatening US-brokered Palestinian statehood talks. "This aggression does not serve efforts being exerted to achieve calm, and it obstructs the peace process," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, referring to Israel’s military activities, said in a statement carried by WAFA news agency. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, without giving details of the raid in Beit Hanoun, said Hamas Islamists controlling the Gaza Strip bore overall responsibility for casualties among non-combatants because gunmen "operated among civilians". more.. e-mail
Five killed in Israeli attack on Gaza Strip
Haroon Siddique, The Guardian 4/28/2008
Four Palestinian children and their mother were killed in an Israeli attack on the northern Gaza Strip today, officials said. The attack happened in Beit Hanoun, near the Israeli border. The town is often used by Palestinian militants as a base from which to fire rockets into southern Israel. Palestinian doctors said the dead children were Rudina and Hana Abu Meatik, sisters aged six and three, and their brothers, four-year-old Saleh and 15-month-old Mousab. Their mother, Miyasar, was in her late 30s. Her two older children were critically wounded in the strike, officials said. The Israeli army said it had used tanks and aircraft to target a group of gunmen who had approached the border. alestinian militants have carried out a series of attacks in the area over recent weeks. The Islamic Jihad militant group said one of its gunmen was killed near the family’s home. In a separate strike, a tank shell apparently veered off target and struck the building. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces unseal West Bank; detain three Palestinians
Ma’an News Agency 4/28/2008
Bethlehem Ma’an Israeli forces reopened the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Monday morning after a week of total closure for the Jewish Passover holiday. The Gaza Strip, which has been sealed by the Israeli military since last June, will remain closed. The Passover closure mainly effected Palestinians in the West Bank, who were not allowed to enter Jerusalem or Israel, even with a permit. Separately, Israeli forces seized two Palestinians near the city of Ramallah, in the central West Bank, and one from Bethlehem, in the south, during overnight raids. [end]
Palestinian court sentences accused collaborator to death
The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 4/29/2008
Palestinian judges ordered the execution of a man for collaborating with Israel in Hebron on Monday. Judges say the man provided information that helped Israeli forces kill four Palestinian militants. On Monday, they ordered he be executed by a firing squad. The order still has to be signed by the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas. Palestinians look harshly toward brethren who provide Israel with information about Palestinian militants. Suspected collaborators are often killed vigilante-style. Last June, Palestinian militantskilled a man they suspected of collaborating with Israel, as he lay on the X-ray table at a hospital in the West Bank city of Nablus. In November last year, authorities in Jerusalem arrested four residents of the Jabel Mukaber section of East Jerusalem for allegedly conspiring to kill a man they suspected of cooperating with the Israeli security services. more.. e-mail
Hamas calls on all resistance factions to retaliate strongly to Israel’s crimes
Palestinian Information Center 4/28/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Hamas Movement called Monday on all Palestinian resistance factions spearheaded by the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, to retaliate strongly to Israel’s crimes especially to the Beit Hanoun massacre committed in the morning and to be fully prepared to protect the Palestinian people. "We inform all parties that we have done everything we can in order to achieve calm in the Palestinian arena, but in the light of the occupation’s positions and its ongoing aggression and siege, the Movement declares that our people are not to blame for anything they do to stop the aggression and break the siege," Hamas underlined in a press conference. Hamas said that the Beit Hanoun massacre against children and women is evidence of the Nazism of the Israeli occupation and its persistence in committing war crimes, adding that this massacre also represents a practical response to the truce issue. more.. e-mail
Seized weapons cache linked to Hamas, Palestinian intelligence claims
Ma’an News Agency 4/28/2008
Bethlehem Ma’an The Palestinian intelligence services seized a stockpile of weapons and explosives in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Monday. Intelligence officials said the armaments belonged to a Hamas cell. The intelligence services showed the seized equipment to journalists at their headquarters in Bethlehem. On display were 250 and 300 millimeter machineguns, Kalashnikovs, M1 rifles, old English rifles, land mines, dumdum bullets, chemicals for manufacturing explosives, silencers and military uniforms and helmets. Bethlehem intelligence director Abu Dawood refused to answer questions about the weapons, saying only that the case is pending investigation. He refused togive names anyone who may have been arrested in connection with the seizure. more.. e-mail
VIDEO - Fighting Jihad in cyberspace
YNetNews 4/28/2008
Israeli company Terrogence specializes in monitoring Middle Eastern and terror-related internet sites. ’We infiltrate those forums and websites using false identities in order to obtain the data that we need,’ one staff member explains (04. 28. 08)Author: Infolive [end]
Four wheels and an electronic brain: Meet IDF’s newest soldier
The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 4/29/2008
Israel’s newest soldier can see at night, never nods off on sentry duty and can carry 300 kilograms (660 pounds) without complaining. The Guardium, an unmanned ground vehicle commissioned by the Israel Defense Forces is essentially a robotic soldier, among the first in the world to be operational. It can replace human soldiers in dangerous roles, cutting casualty rates. Like the pilot-less drones that have become a mainstay of air forces in Israel, the U. S. and elsewhere, the four-wheeled Guardium is operated from a command room that can be far from the front line. It can be mounted with cameras, night-vision equipment and sensors, as well as more lethal tools like machine guns. Following pre-programmed routes, it can navigate alone through cities - the vehicle knows how to deal with intersections, traffic and road markings. more.. e-mail
Two days after terror attack, factories reopen in Nitzanei Shalom
Yuval Azoulay, Ha’aretz 4/28/2008
Two days after two Israeli security guards were shot dead in a shooting attack at the Nitzanei Shalom industrial zone, near the West Bank city of Tul Karm, the workers returned to their factory jobs Sunday. Management said that 85 percent of the factory workers were present. 500 of the 700 workers at the industrial zone are Palestinians from Tul Karm. Security officials suspect a militant from the Islamic Jihad organization infiltrated the industrial zone and opened fire at close range. The bodies of the two middle-aged men were discovered Friday morning. An investigation into the shooting by Shin Bet, Israel Defense Forces and the factories themselves is still ongoing. The two guards were apparently screening Palestinians workers coming in when the gunman approached them, opened fire and then escaped, the military said. more.. e-mail
Israel tanks roll into central Gaza Strip
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 4/27/2008
A number of Israeli tanks rolled on Sunday morning few hundred meters into the eastern parts of central Gaza Strip city of Deir Elbalah, Palestinian security sources reported. The sources said that the Israeli army detained two Palestinians, the army says tried to infiltrated into Israel through a border barbed-wire. Israeli bulldozers, accompanying the tanks, razed Palestinain-owned farm lands in the area, as the Palestinian resistance fighters attempted to force the tanks back by firing hand grenades and live ammunition, media sources said. In the meantime, the Saraya aL-Quds brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad group, claimed in a statement, faxed to press today, that its fighters managed to detonate an Israeli armored vehicle to the east of Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, since the early hours of morning, Israeli drones have been hovering over the central Gaza Strip. more.. e-mail
Police move to new HQ east of Jerusalem
Jonathan Lis, Ha’aretz 4/28/2008
In the middle of nowhere, far from any community, stands the new headquarters of the Samaria and Judea Police District. The access road to the building is long and wide, and connects to the Ma’ale Adumim-Jericho road. This access road provides tangible evidence of the intention to turn the compound into a residential neighborhood: Three traffic circles have been built; along the road on either side run dirt paths that are destined to be paved for two additional lanes someday; the hills in the way were blown up to blast through to the district’s new home. On the adjacent rise, an extensive plot of land has been prepared for a future neighborhood. Why locate a police station away from any existing community? There are no clear answers. In the past few days, the police have begun moving the various Samaria and Judea District offices to the new building. more.. e-mail
Israeli army wounds a Palestinian near a border fence in northern West Bank
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 4/27/2008
The Israeli army shot and wounded on Sunday morning a Palestinian resident when he approached a barbed wire security fence just near the Israeli settlement of Elkana to the north of West Bank. Eyewitness said the Israeli soldiers, manning the fence, opened fire at the resident’s foot, shortly after they ordered him to stop. No further details were reported. [end]
IOF kidnap two citizens in Gaza, storm West Bank towns
Palestinian Information Center 4/27/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces announced the kidnap of two Palestinians near the Kissufim crossing in southern Gaza Strip after trying to infiltrate into Palestinian lands occupied in 1948. Hebrew media said that the IOF soldiers detained the two unarmed Palestinians after combing the area where they were spotted. IOF troops on Saturday bulldozed Palestinian lands west of Karm Abu Salem crossing east of Rafah city in southern Gaza and on Sunday morning bulldozed cultivated lands east of Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza. Palestinian resistance factions said they fired a number of mortars and RPGs at the invading troops. In the West Bank, the occupation forces stormed Jenin and a number of its villages last night and at dawn Sunday broke into Nablus and ransacked a number of civilian homes in search of alleged wanted activists. more.. e-mail
Islamic Jihad fighters fire two projectiles at Sderot
Ma’an News Agency 4/27/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing affiliated to the Islamic Jihad, Al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility on Sunday for firing two homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot in western Negev. They said in a statement that the shelling came as natural retaliation for the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in the West bank and the Gaza Strip. [end]
Qassam causes fire in Sderot
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 4/27/2008
Two rockets fired from northern Gaza land in Sderot Sunday afternoon. One rocket hits local cemetery, another lands near house, sets fire to gas tanks. Earlier Sunday rocket lands in kibbutz south of Ashkelon - A Qassam rocket fired from northern Gaza landed at the Sderot cemetery Sunday afternoon. Another rocket landed near a house in town, causing substantial damage to the building. Gas tanks nearby caught fire as a result of the rocket’s explosion. Fortunately, the house’s residents were not there at the time of the attack. A rocket fired from northern Gaza earlier Sunday landed near the local garage in a kibbutz south of Ashkelon. No injuries or damage were reported in the attack. Damage caused by rocket (Photo: Ze’ev Trachtman)On Saturday, a Qassam rocket landed in an open field in the Sdot Negev Regional Council, causing no injuries or damage. more.. e-mail
Four Qassams strike western Negev, causing damages but no injuries
Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 4/27/2008
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Sunday fired three Qassam rockets at southern Israel. Two of the rockets struck the western Negev town of Sderot. One exploded in the yard of a home, causing damage to the building. A second rocket exploded in an open field in the city. No injuries were reported in either incident. Earlier Thursday, a rocket exploded in Kibbutz Zikim, south of Ashkelon. No damages or injuries were reported. Israel is waiting for the results of talks between Hamas and other militant Palestinian groups in Cairo this Wednesday before it takes a position on an Egyptian-mediated cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. Security officials have said that if Hamas cannot restrain the smaller groups, first and foremost Islamic Jihad, there will not be much point to the agreement. more.. e-mail
Al-Aqsa Brigades ’attack Rabbis’ car’ near Qalqilia
Ma’an News Agency 4/27/2008
Gaza/Qalqilia Ma’an A group of fighters affiliated to the armed wing of Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, claimed responsibility on Sunday for opening fire at the car containing a number of Israeli rabbis near the Immanu’el settlement, east of the West Bank city of Qalqilia. The group said in a statement that they used machine guns to fire at an Israeli car in which the rabbis were traveling. Separately, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, said their fighters launched a homemade projectile at the Israeli city of Ashkelon on Sunday. They said in a statement that the shelling came in retaliation for ongoing Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. more.. e-mail
Two Palestinians arrested for allegedly crossing into Israel from Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 4/27/2008
Bethlehem Ma’an Israeli authorities announced on Saturday evening that the Israeli army arrested two Palestinians who crossed into Israel from the Gaza Strip near the Israeli military installation at Kisufim. Israeli media reported that military forces in the Kisfuim area are now on high alert after news spread that two Palestinians crossed the border with the aim of undertaking a military operation. Israeli helicopters are surveying the area from the air, while Israeli authorities called on the residents of the area to stay in their homes. [end]
Israeli forces raid Al-Yamun, near Jenin
Ma’an News Agency 4/27/2008
Jenin Ma’an Israeli forces invaded the northern West Bank town of Al-Yamun, west of the city of Jenin, and ransacked several Palestinian homes after midnight on Sunday. No arrests have been reported. Palestinian security sources said that 13 Israeli military vehicles raided the town at 1:30am searching for "wanted" Palestinian activists. Eyewitnesses said that the Israeli troops fired live ammunition in the air and detonated sonic bombs. Israeli military vehicles patrolled the town till the early morning hours. [end]
Islamic Jihad fighters attack undercover Israeli forces in Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 4/27/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility on Sunday for hurling an explosive device at an undercover Israeli force which they discovered east of Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. The military group said in a statement that the bomb hit its target and that the operation came in retaliation for "ongoing Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people. " [end]
Israeli military forces invade Kafr Qaddum
Ma’an News Agency 4/27/2008
Qalqilia Ma’an More than twenty Israeli military vehicles invaded the northern West Bank town of Kafr Qaddum, east of Qalqilia, overnight, witnesses said. The invading forces surrounded home of Wisam Shtaiwi and Ahmad Jum’a, forcing the residents of the houses into the street before searching the houses. [end]
Israeli forces detain five Palestinians in overnight raids near Bethlehem
Ma’an News Agency 4/27/2008
Bethlehem Ma’an Israeli forces on seized five Palestinians in the southern West Bank district of Bethlehem. Israeli sources said that the Israeli army raided the town of Al-Khadr, south of Bethlehem, and apprehended five allegedly wanted activists. [end]
Algerian hackers break into Bank of Israel site
Erez Wollberg and Zeev Klein, Globes Online 4/27/2008
The central bank’s website is "temporarily closed". The Bank of Israel is "temporarily closed", after Algerian hackers broke into the site on Friday to leave a message: "Hear me Jews, you’re a nation whose fate is sealed and sooner or later you will lose in war. "Senior bank officials, away on their Passover holiday, were unaware of the break-in until they learned about it on "Globes", which broke the story. "Globes" has obtained an image of the Bank of Israel’s website after the break-in. The text goes on to say, "Victory will come, inshallah and the scenario of Chechnya will be repeated and we will drive you out. Millions of young Muslims are willing to die for al-Quds, which belongs to us. "This is the first time that hackers have succeeded in planting their own message on an official Israeli website. more.. e-mail
Men who hacked into Israel Bank site were motivated by Islamism
Guy Grimland, Ha’aretz 4/28/2008
Contrary to previous reports, the computer hackers who commandeered the Bank of Israel Web site early Friday and filled it with virtual anti-Israel graffiti in Arabic, are nationals of various Arab countries and not solely Algerian. The hackers belong to a group called MaXi32, which is considered one of the world’s leading groups of computer hackers. "The hackers who attacked the Bank of Israel site were motivated by ideology," said Moran Zavdi, the chairman of Israeli internet security company Securevision, who is in contact with the hackers. Zavdi said that the hackers are motivated by their zealous Islamism and believe that anyone who does not believe in the Prophet Mohammed is a valid target. Zavdi also believes that one of the hackers is able to read Hebrew and follows the Israeli media reports on the cyber-attack. more.. e-mail
Fayyad hopeful about security in Jenin
Ma’an News Agency 4/27/2008
Jenin Ma’an Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad expressed optimism about the security situation in the Jenin district of the West Bank, where Palestinian security forces are poised to take over at least partial control, during a visit there on Sunday. During a press conference at the Palestinian Authority (PA) headquarters in Jenin, Fayyad said that the PA is in discussions with Israel about allowing Palestinians living in Israel to cross into Jenin. He also said that Israel has approved the establishment of an industrial zone near the border with Israel, which he said will create thousands of jobs. Fayyad also stressed that stable internal security will encourage entrepreneurs to invest in Palestine, and that Jenin district has achieved a great deal in that respect. Fayyad was hosted by the governor of Jenin, Qaddura Mousa, and the district’s security commander, Abu Al-Fath. more.. e-mail
’Gaza still poses a major challenge’
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 4/27/2008
Southern Command chief warns IDF’s mission in Gaza far from over at evening honoring exemplary servicemen. Field commander who received citation says troops ’were fighting a Hamas organized like a proper army’ - "Our mission in Gaza has not yet been completed and a period of difficult trials lies ahead," said Maj. Gen. Yoav Gallant on Sunday evening at a ceremony for Golani Brigade troops who took part in combat efforts against terror groups in the Gaza Strip over the past few months. Gallant, who heads the army’s Southern Command, conferred citations to a number of soldiers and officers who were singled out for exemplary conduct. The 51st Battalion, said Gallant, displayed determination, perseverance and daring during its time in Gaza from July 2007 to February 2008. Among the recipients was Lt. more.. e-mail
News in Brief
Ha’aretz 4/28/2008
Cattle breeders: Cancel Independence Day celebrationsThe Israeli Cattle Breeders Association is calling for the cancellation of the state’s 60th anniversary festivities in the wake of a cow-poisoning incident Saturday, in which the cattle breeders are accusing Arabs of fatally poisoning 17 cows with the intention of taking control of the pastureland. The farmers and the animal-protection organization Let the Animals Live are also requesting that animal poisoning be treated as a felony rather than a misdemeanor, which would lead to a harsher sentence for convicted poisoners. (Eli Ashkenazi) Sheetrit rejects leaving IACC legal status unchangedInterior Minister Meir Sheetrit yesterday rejected a compromise proposed by lawyer Yaakov Neeman that would allow The Israel Association of Community Centers’ legal status to remain unchanged. more.. e-mail
VIDEO - Teenage girl killed in Gaza raid
Al Jazeera 4/26/2008
A 14-year-old Palestinian girl has been killed in an exchange of heavy fire between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters in northern Gaza, according to medics. The Israeli military said that it had carried an air raid targeting armed men in Beit Lahiya, near the border with Israel, early on Saturday. "The air force launched two raids on Saturday morning against armed elements in the northern Gaza Strip," a spokeswoman said. Palestinian medics said that the girl was killed when an Israeli missile hit her house. Hamas officials told the Associated Press news agency that Hassan Marouf, a local leader of the group, was the target of the Israeli raid and troops withdrew after detaining him. The dead girl was reportedly his daughter, Mariam. Seven people were wounded in air raids, three of them left in a critical condition, they said. -- See also: YouTube: Fourteen-year-old girl killed in Israeli raid more.. e-mail
IDF troops wound West Bank Palestinian trying to enter Israel
Avi Isaacharoff and News Agencies, Ha’aretz 4/27/2008
Israel Defense Forces soldiers late Saturday shot and wounded a Palestinian man after he attempted to cross the West Bank security fence into Israel near the settlement of Elkana. Troops shot the man as he jumped up onto the fence, they had earlier called on him to stop and had threatened to shoot him if he did not do so. When the Palestinian did not respond to their calls, they shot and wounded him. IDF soldiers subsequently took him for treatment in a hospital in Israel. Earlier on Saturday evening, IDF troops caught two Palestinians who had infiltrated into Israel from the Gaza Strip near the Kissufim border crossing. Security forces detained the pair, who were apparently unarmed, for questioning and to clarify the circumstances of the incident. more.. e-mail
Israeli settlers deliberately shoot Palestinian young man in Salfit
Palestinian Information Center 4/26/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- A Palestinian young man called Essam Eissa, 24, from the Yasouf village in Salfit, northern West Bank, was seriously wounded after Israeli settlers deliberately shot him Friday with internationally forbidden dumdum bullets. His family said that Eissa was shot by Zionists of the Tafoh settlement adjacent to the village, adding that six settlers stormed the Tal area, north of the village, and intentionally opened fire at him as he was near his house. The Yasouf village suffers from round-the-clock raids carried out by settlers or IOF troops. In retaliation to the ongoing Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people, the Salahuddin Brigades, the armed wing of the popular resistance committees, and Abu Rish Brigades, an offshoot of the dissolved armed wing of Fatah, claimed responsibility for attacking at noon Friday an IOF patrol near the Artah area in Tulkarem. more.. e-mail
Palestinian police officer shot by Israeli settlers
Ma’an News Agency 4/26/2008
Nablus Ma’an Israeli settlers shot a Palestinian police officer near the West Bank village of Yasuf, south of Nablus, before fleeing on Thursday, witnesses said. Twenty-four-year-old Issam Abdel Kader Isa said that six Israelis, apparently from the nearby Kfar Tappuah settlement, opened fire at him while he was standing near his house on Thursday. Isa was treated at Yasser Arafat Hospital in the town of Salfit for wounds on his hands. Medics called his injuries "moderate. " Isaa works at a training center for Palestinian police officers near the West Bank city of Jericho. [end]
Israeli air raid kills Palestinian teen in Gaza
Middle East Online 4/25/2008
GAZA CITY - The teenage daughter of a Hamas chief was killed and eight people were wounded in an Israeli air raid at dawn on the Gaza Strip, Hamas and Palestinian health officials said on Saturday. The 14-year-old, Maryam Talat Maruf, died when a missile fired by an Israeli aircraft hit her house in Beit Lahiya north of Gaza City, they said, adding that the eight others were wounded. Hamas, which controls the inside of Israeli-occupied Gaza, said in a statement that "Israeli forces Saturday killed the daughter of Hassan Maruf," a local leader in the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed branch of the democratically elected Palestinian movement. Witnesses said Maruf was detained by Israeli soldiers who entered the area supported by tanks. An Israeli military spokeswoman said that "the air force launched two raids on Saturday morning against armed elements in the northern Gaza Strip. more.. e-mail
14-year-old girl killed by Israeli troops in northern Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 4/26/2008
Gaza Ma’an Israeli forces killed a 14-year-old girl, Maryam Tal’at Ma’rouf, and injured her mother, Samyah Ma’rouf, along with six others during an incursion in Beit Layiha, in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, witnesses said. Israeli special forces, with helicopters hovering overhead, invaded Beit Layiha at dawn, surrounding the house of Hamas leader Samyah Ma’rouf. Witnesses said the Israeli troops opened fire on the house, killing the child. Israeli troops engaged in a heavy exchange of fire with Palestinian fighters in the area. The Israeli forces withdrew at 7:30am after seizing Tal’at Ma’rouf. Muawiyah Hassanein, the director of emergency and ambulance services in the Palestinian Health Ministry, identified some of the wounded: 40-year-old Saleh Ma’rouf, Saleh Ma’rouf, 27-year-old Zuhair Sobh, Ziad, 28-year-old Mustafa Sobh, 25-year-old Ahmad Abd al-Muttalib Al-Kahlout, 14-Year-old Al-Kahlout. more.. e-mail
IOF troops kill Palestinian girl, wound 10 citizens
Palestinian Information Center 4/26/2008
Beit Lahia, (PIC)-- A Palestinian child was killed and ten other citizens were wounded in an Israeli occupation forces’ incursion that started shortly after midnight Friday and continued till dawn Saturday, medical and local sources reported. The medical sources told PIC correspondent that that the little girl, Mariam Marof, was killed in the IOF troops’ shooting west of Beit Lahia, and added that two women and two members of the Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, were among the wounded. Local sources said that an IOF unit encircled the home of a Hamas activist in Beit Lahia, north of Gaza Strip, before violent clashes erupted in the vicinity of the house which was set ablaze. The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas Movement, said that one of its groups spotted the infiltrating IOF unit and engaged its members before blasting four devices in the advancing force. more.. e-mail
Manhunt over: IDF nabs 2 Palestinian infiltrators
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 4/26/2008
Two Palestinians who crossed Gaza Strip border fence north of Kissufim Crossing Saturday night captured by IDF troops; high alert lifted. Earlier, area residents ordered to stay home for fear of terror attack - Gaza manhunt over:IDF forces captured two Palestinians who crossed the Gaza border fence north of the Kissufim Crossing Saturday night. Earlier, the IDF surrounded the Kissufim area, which was sealed off after the two infiltrators were spotted within Israeli territory. The infiltrators, who were spotted by the IDF around 8 pm Saturday, were apparently armed and wearing bullet-proof vests. Immediately following the infiltration, residents in the southern communities of Nir Oz, Re’im, Nirim, Kissufim, and Ein Hashlosha were ordered to stay indoors and community security teams were called in. more.. e-mail
Palestinian fighters shell Sderot
Ma’an News Agency 4/26/2008
Gaza Ma’an Two Palestinian military groups claimed responsibility for attacking the Israeli town of Sderot, which borders the Gaza Strip, on Saturday. The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, claimed responsibility on Saturday for firing a mortar shell at Sderot. Separately, the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, claimed responsibility for launching a homemade projectile at Sderot, on Saturday morning. Both organizations told Ma’an that their actions were a response to Israel’s deadly attacks in the Palestinians territories. [end]
Israeli tanks, bulldozers enter southern Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 4/26/2008
Gaza Ma’an Five Israeli tanks and two armored bulldozers entered the Gaza Strip near the Kerem Shalom (Karem Abu Salem) crossing point just after noon on Saturday, witnesses said. Witnesses added that the bulldozers are clearing the area where Hamas fighters attacked the crossing point with car bombs last week. Thirteen Israeli soldiers were wounded in that attack. [end]
Probe finds serious faults after fatal terror attack
Yuval Azoulay Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz 4/27/2008
Authorities began yesterday to investigate Friday’s shooting attack at the Nitzanei Shalom industrial zone, in which two Israeli security guards were killed. Preliminary findings of the investigation, in which the Israel Defense Forces, the Shin Bet security service and the private firm securing the site are involved, have revealed serious problems with the way the site, near the West Bank city of Tul Karm, was secured. The victims of the attack were Shimon Mizrahi, 53, of Bat Hefer, and Eli Wasserman, 50, of Alfei Menashe. A third guard fled after the gunman opened fire. Military officials said they believe the gunman was a Palestinian militant. Islamic Jihad, Hamas and a number of Fatah factions all claimed responsibility for the killings. Investigators have not ruled out personal motives in the attack, however. more.. e-mail
Demining body cleared 287,255 square meters during March
Daily Star 4/26/2008
BEIRUT: The Mines Advisory Group (MAG) issued their report for the month of March on Friday, detailing efforts made in clearing Israeli munitions that litter the South. During the month of March, MAG successfully cleared 287,255 square meters of land "through hand, electronic, and visual techniques. "The group also removed and destroyed 231 cluster bombs and other unexploded munitions, including 219 sub-munitions and 12 items of unexploded ordinance. MAG teams operate in 15 southern villages, including Yohmor, Zawtar West, Arnoun, Adshit, Jebshit, Kfar Ruman, Qosaybeh, Nabatieh and Habbouche, among others. The United Nations and international human rights groups say that Israel dropped about 4 million cluster bomblets on Lebanon during the 2006 war. At least one million of those failed to explode and continue to pose a lethal threat to civilians in South Lebanon. more.. e-mail
Two Israeli guards killed in West Bank shooting; third flees
Amos Harel and News Agencies, Ha’aretz 4/26/2008
Two Israeli security guards were shot dead overnight in a shooting attack at the Nitzanei Shalom industrial zone, near the West Bank city of Tul Karm. A third guard managed to flee after the gunman opened fire. The bodies of the two middle-aged men were discovered Friday morning in a factory where in the industrial zone, on the boundary between Israeli territory and the Palestinian-ruled city. Security officials said the attack was terror related. They suspect a militant from the Islamic Jihad organization infiltrated the industrial zone and opened fire at close range. The victims were named as Shimon Mizrahi, 53, of Beit Hefer, and Eli Wasserman, 50, of Alfei Menashe. The two guards were apparently screening Palestinians workers coming in when the gunman approached them, opened fire and then escaped, the military said. more.. e-mail
Hackers commandeer Israel Bank site, post anti-Israel jibes
Tal Levy, TheMarker, Ha’aretz 4/26/2008
Bank of IsraelMuslim hackers commandeered the Bank of Israel Web site early Friday and filled it with virtual graffiti in Arabic defaming Israel. Web surfers who attempted to access the site Friday morning were met with Arabic scrawlings that the anonymous vandals placed on the site. The Bank of Israel has taken down the site until the glitch could be fixed. Dr. Yossi Saadon, a bank spokesperson, said: "The matter is being taken care of. " "The bank’s information systems and content systems are separate, and the damage only affects external web users. There is no possibility of damage being inflicted on the Bank of Israel’s internal content," he added. more.. e-mail
Two Israeli guards killed near Tulkarem
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 4/25/2008
Israeli military sources reported on Friday that two Israel guards working at the Nitzanei Shalom industrial area, near the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, were shot and killed earlier on Friday by a Palestinian gunman; a third guard managed to escape unharmed. The sources added that the bodies of the two guards were found on Friday morning in a factory in the Industrial Zone. The area where the attack took place is on a boundary strip between Israel and Tulkarem. The Israeli intelligence services said that the attack was carried out by fighters of the Al Quds brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad. It is believed that the guards were shot at a close range after a gunman managed to infiltrate into the Industrial Zone, military sources stated. Israeli online daily, Haaretz, said that the guards were most likely screening Palestinian workers when they were approached by a gunman who opened fire at them and fled the scene. more.. e-mail
2 killed in shooting attack in Sharon region
Raanan Ben-Zur, YNetNews 4/25/2008
Gunman fires at two Israeli guards in charge of checking Palestinians arriving from West Bank at industrial zone near Nitzanei Oz. Islamic Jihad, Hamas claim shared responsibility for attack, say terrorist crossed barrier disguised as a woman. IDF sources criticize security at terminal - Two Israeli guards were killed Friday morning in a shooting attack in an industrial zone near Nitzanei Ozin the Sharon region. The two were in charge of checking Palestinians arriving from the West Bank. The two were identified as Shimon Mizrahi, 53, of Bat Hefer and Eli Wasserman, 51, of Alfei MenasheThe Al-Quds Brigades, the Islamic Jihad’s military wing, and the Izz al-Din al-Qassam, Hamas’ military wing, claimed shared responsibility for the shooting attackThe organizations claimed that the attack’s executer was a terrorist wanted by Israel and the Palestinian Authority,. . . more.. e-mail
This Week In Palestine - Week 17 2008
Ghassan Bannoura - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center News 4/25/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file|| File 15. 5 MB || Time 17m 0s || This Week In Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www. IMEMC. org, for April 19th through to April 25th, 2008. Israel rejected a truce offer by the Hamas movement, while the Israeli army conducted at least 39 military invasions into Palestinian communities, in the West Bank and kills seven in Gaza these stories and more coming up stay tuned. Nonviolent Resistance Let’s begin our weekly report with the nonviolent actions in the West Bank, IMEMC’s Marry Smith with the details: Ramallah A group of Palestinian, Israeli, and international peace activists reclaimed an evacuated Israeli military post near the central West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday. The post is located at the main road that connects the village of Ein-Qinyah with the nearby city of Ramallah;. . . more.. e-mail
Thousands march in Gaza to protest against the siege
Palestinian Information Center 4/25/2008
Palestinians protesting the siege at the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossingGAZA, (PIC)-- Hamas has organised a number of protest marches in the Gaza Strip after the Friday prayers in Gaza city, the northern and southern Gaza Strip to protest the continued siege on the Strip. Protesters in Gaza city marched towards the centre of the city, while protestors in the southern Gaza Strip marched towards the Rafah crossing and in the northern Gaza Strip they marched towards the Beir Hanoun crossing. Dr. Attallah Abu al-Sabeh, a Hamas leader told demonstrators in Rafah that the real battle to break the siege is with the Zionist occupation. He also sent a message to Egypt saying that Hamas would never threaten the security of Egypt calling on the Egyptian government to help break the siege. In the northern Gaza Strip thousands of Gaza residents participated in a huge demonstration at the. . . more.. e-mail
Druze, Christians clash near Galilee village
Sharon Roffe-Ofir, YNetNews 4/25/2008
Several injured as brawl breaks out during march to Jethro’s gravesite near Eilabun. Community elders meet Friday to restore peace - Six people were injured early Friday, two of them sustaining serious wounds, in a brawl which broke out between Druze and Christians near the Galilee village of Eilabun. The squabble began for an unknown reason as members of the Druze community marched towards the gravesite of Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, walking on the main road near the village. The marchers fought with the village residents using guns and stones. The Druze community elders who were present at the scene finally managed to restore calmness. "The affair is over and is behind us" said MK Said Naffaa (Balad), member of the Druze community. Four of the squabble’s injured are hospitalized at Poria Hospital in Tiberias, one severely wounded has undergone. . . more.. e-mail
Brigades claim killing of two Israeli guards in Tulkarem industrial zone
Ma’an News Agency 4/25/2008
Bethlehem - Tulkarem Ma’an report - Five Palestinian resistance factions have claimed responsibility for shooting dead two Israeli security guards in the Tulkarem industrial zone on Friday. Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades say they carried out the attack in co-ordination with the relatively unknown Al-Awda wa Nidal Brigades and the Ahrar Al-Muthalith Brigades, who are based inside Israel. A spokesperson telephoned Ma’an and said that three of their members targeted Israeli the security guards, using only one gun. They then escaped. "The operation was two weeks in the planning and so the brigades rejected the ceasefire talks with Israel by Hamas and other factions," the spokesperson said. The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds brigades and the Al-Qassam Brigades the military wing of Hamas, also claimed responsibility for the operation in Tulkarem. more.. e-mail
Al Quds, Al Qassam brigades claim joint responsibility for Friday’s attack
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 4/25/2008
The Al Quds brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, and the Al Qassam brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, claimed joint responsibility for Friday’s attacks against Nitzanei Oz Industrial Zone in which two Israeli guards were killed. Israeli sources reported that one of they killed guards is a senior security officer. The two groups said that one fighter disguised as a woman made his way into Qalansawa village within the Green Line, and there he changed his clothes and dressed an outfit similar to the ones wore by the workers of the industrial zone. They added that the fighter who carried the attack is wanted by the Israeli security and by the Palestinian security forces of president Mahmoud Abbas. The statement revealed that the fighter arrived at the area where the workers usually wait, pulled his gun and opened fire at a number of guards. more.. e-mail
Rocket causes heavy damage to Ashkelon cemetery
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 4/25/2008
Four rockets fired at city Friday morning; dozens of graves sustain damage. ’This is a very sad sight,’ says gravesite manager - Four rockets were fired at Ashkelon on Friday morning, one of then landing in the city’s southern cemetery. Dozens of graves were damaged. The al-Quds Brigades, the Islamic Jihad’s military wing, claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, as well as for a shooting attack which left two Israeli guards dead in an industrial zone in the Sharon region. Eli Yifrach, the cemetery’s manager, told Ynet that "luckily the rocket landed before the employees arrived for work. It fell inside the cemetery and many graves were damaged. "One of the graves was completely destroyed, and we are now working cautiously with the police so as not to desecrate the dead. This is a very sad sight. " more.. e-mail
Two Israeli guards killed in resistance attack
Palestinian Information Center 4/25/2008
TULKAREM, (PIC)-- Two Israeli guards were killed, Friday morning, at Nitzanei Oz industrial zone to the west of the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, according to Israeli and Palestinian sources. The Israeli radio said that a lone Palestinian gunman opened fire at the two guards killing them instantly. The gunman withdrew before IOF troops and ambulances rushed to the scene. Local sources said that IOF troops in large numbers invaded the border village of Ertah and raided Palestinian homes and ransacked them. Many Palestinian labourers were also arrested by the IOF while on their way to work. Meanwhile, the Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, and the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, claimed responsibility for the attack in a joint statement in which they published the details of the attack. more.. e-mail
Palestinian security services detain 4 Hamas affiliates in West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 4/25/2008
Nablus Ma’an - Hamas said that Palestinian security services arrested four Hamas members in the West Bank on Thursday evening. The movement told Ma’an that in Bethlehem Mohammed Jamal Hamamdeh, from Dheisheh refugee camp, was detained after being called for an interview, along with Tarek Jibril from Tqu’ village outside Bethlehem. In Jenin, security services arrested student Ayman Jarar after summoning him for an interview. In Tulkarem, security services arrested Nabil Awad after calling him for an interview. more.. e-mail
Al-Quds Brigades target Israeli soldiers
Ma’an News Agency 4/25/2008
Gaza Ma’an - The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, announced on Friday morning that they targeted an Israeli soldier and opened fire on a military jeep near the Abu Mtebeq military site, east of the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central the Gaza Strip. The brigades claimed the Israeli soldier was shot and the military jeep was damaged in the attack. They said in a statement that the attack came in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people. more.. e-mail
Al-Quds brigades launch four projectiles at Ashkelon
Ma’an News Agency 4/25/2008
Bethlehem Ma’an The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds brigades, claimed responsibility on Friday morning for launching four projectiles at Ashkelon. The brigades said that they launched two projectiles at dawn and another two in the morning on Friday. They sent a statement to Ma’an, saying the operation was in response to the continuing attacks against the Palestinian people, adding they would continue to resist the occupation. more.. e-mail
Abu Ali Mustafa brigades attack Sderot and Zekem
Ma’an News Agency 4/25/2008
Gaza Ma’an - The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, announced on Friday that they launched two projectiles at the Israeli towns of Sderot and Zekem. The brigades told Ma’an that they will continue to resist Israeli occupation and their crimes against the Palestinian people. more.. e-mail
One killed, six wounded in the Israeli incursion in Beit Hanoun
Ma’an News Agency 4/24/2008
Gaza Ma’an A 55-year- old Palestinian man was killed when Israeli forces shelled his house in northeast Beit Hanoun during an Israeli incursion on Wednesday night. A hospital spokesman said Daoud Al-Kafarneh was dead on arrival at Beit Hanoun Hospital. The same source announced that two wounded were taken to Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. Six Palestinians, including resistance fighters, were injured when Israeli helicopters fired on people who were watching Israeli military vehicles near their homes on Wednesday night in northern Beit Hanoun. Around twenty Israeli military vehicles stormed Beit Hanoun through the Erez crossing and moved towards a residential area in Al-Sika and Al-Sultan Streets. They waited on the outskirts of the town until they were joined by another thirty military vehicles, along with a number of bulldozers that began razing agricultural lands in the vicinity. more.. e-mail
Four Lebanese children wounded by Israel cluster bomb left from 2006 war
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 4/25/2008
The official Lebanese newsy agency reported on Friday that an cluster bomb dropped by Israel during the 2006 war, exploded near a group of children in south Lebanon and wounded four of them. The incident took place in a village in southern Lebanon as the four children, ages 10 -15, found a suspicious device while playing and carried it before it went off. Israel dropped nearly four million cluster bombs on Lebanon during the 2006 war and nearly one million bombs did not explode and remained a threat endangering civilians. Cluster bombs are considered an ’illegal weapon’ under international law, as they inevitably harm civilians. The bombs are actually made up of hundreds of ’bomblets’, which break apart on impact, spreading bomblets which explode over an area of several kilometers. Despite the fact that the weapon is banned, the Israeli military has called the use of these bombs a "concrete military necessity" in the invasion of Lebanon. more.. e-mail
IOF troops round up West Bankers
Palestinian Information Center 4/24/2008
NABLUS, (PIC)-- IOF troops at dawn Thursday kidnapped seven Palestinians in the city of Nablus including three brothers while others were rounded up in line with daily IOF arrests campaigns in various West Bank areas. Locals reported that the soldiers wreaked havoc in all houses stormed in the city and the nearby Balata refugee camp. Three other Palestinians were kidnapped at the Zatara roadblock to the east of Salift. In Al-Khalil district, ten Palestinians were rounded up from the village of Dura on Wednesday while a child was hospitalized after an Israeli settler ran over him at the entrance to Arub refugee camp south of Al-Khalil city. Witnesses said that the 6-year-old child Rafat Al-Titi was rushed to an Israeli hospital in view of his condition. IOF troops stormed Jenin at an early hour on Thursday amidst intensified hovering of Apache gunships but no arrests were reported. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces continue killings in Gaza with air and ground attacks
Palestine News Network 4/24/2008
Gaza / PNN -- Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip continue with one dead and three injured in an air raid Wednesday night. On Thursday Israeli forces killed nine and injured several others. On Wednesday night a Palestinian citizen died and three others were wounded in an Israeli air raid just after midnight. At the same time the Israeli army carried out ground incursions in the Gaza Strip. Eyewitnesses said that a number of armored vehicles, under the cover of attack helicopters, penetrated hundreds of meters deep into Palestinian land in the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Strip. Palestinian security forces report that Israeli forces penetrated the dawn Thursday into the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip and east of the town of Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip amid intensive gunfire and armed clashes. more.. e-mail
Islamic Jihad activist seized in Qabatiya
Ma’an News Agency 4/24/2008
Jenin Ma’an - Israeli forces seized an activist affiliated to Islamic Jihadduring an incursion in the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin on Thursday. Local sources said that Israeli forces detained ’Aqaba Musleh Abu Zaid during a raid on his house. He was taken to an unknown destination. The sources added that more than ten military vehicles raided a number of houses under the pretext of searching for ’wanted’ Palestinians, before withdrawing in the early hours of Thursday morning. Israeli military also stormed the West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday morning amid heavy gunfire. [end]
Joint brigades attack on Israeli bulldozer
Ma’an News Agency 4/24/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa brigades, and the Al-Quds Brigades - the armed wing of Islamic Jihad - claimed joint responsibility for targeting an Israeli bulldozer with a rocket propelled grenade in the area of Abu Rahma north of Beit Hanoun at dawn on Thursday. The brigades told Ma’an that the attack was in response to "Israeli crimes. " [end]
Palestinian security services detain two Hamas supporters
Ma’an News Agency 4/24/2008
Ramallah Ma’an - Hamas said that Palestinian security services arrested two Hamas affiliates on Wednesday in the West Bank. Hamas said in a statement that "the security forces arrested the head of the Islamic bloc at Birzeit University, Murad As-Sanuri as he left the university near Ramallah. " In the governorate of Nablus, the Israeli security services arrested Mujahid Al-Hamami after storming his house in the city. [end]
Three Palestinians detained at checkpoint north of Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 4/24/2008
Tulkarem Ma’an - Israeli forces seized three Palestinian citizens from the village of Kafr Jamal south of Tulkarem when they passed through Za’tara checkpoint north of Nablus to the north of the West Bank on Thursday. A Palestinian security source in Tulkarem told Ma’an that the three detainees are: Ibrahim Ahmed Naser, Imad Abdul-Aziz Abdul-Jabbar Mustafa and Mohamed Abdel Rahim Khalil Yared. [end]
LEBANON: Tribulations of those displaced from Beirut’s southern suburbs
Rami Aysha/IRIN, IRIN - UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 4/25/2008
An apartment building in Beirut’s southern suburbs being rebuilt by contractors from Hezbollah’s construction firm Waad - BEIRUT, 24 April 2008 (IRIN) - When widow Salam Hassoun and her three children left their home in Beirut’s southern suburbs on the third day of the July 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, she did not know it would be for the last time. Israeli bombs displaced over one million Lebanese from across the country, but it was the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs, home to an estimated 850,000 people, that suffered the heaviest bombardment - some 942 air strikes during the 34-day war, according to figures from the Lebanese army. One of those bombs destroyed Hassoun’s building. Two hundred and nineteen buildings were destroyed in all. A further 150 buildings were partially destroyed and 233 buildings damaged, according to Lebanon’s Higher Relief Council (HRC). more.. e-mail
Flying checkpoint at Kafr Dan
Ma’an News Agency 4/24/2008
Jenin Ma’an - Israeli forces erected a checkpoint at the entrance to the town of Kafr Dan, west of Jenin on Thursday morning, stopping cars and preventing people from entering or leaving the town. Eyewitnesses said that a number of military vehicles were visible at the entrance to the town and a number of Israeli military vehicles had stormed the town. No arrests were reported. [end]
Israel air raid kills Palestinian citizen and wounds his family members
Palestinian Information Center 4/24/2008
BEIT HANOUN, (PIC)-- An Israeli warplane bombed at dawn Thursday a house in the Beit Hanoun town, northern Gaza Strip, belonging to a Palestinian citizen called Daoud Al-Kafarnah, 52, which led to his death and the injury of a number of his family members including children. Palestinian eyewitnesses reported that an Israeli drone fired one air-to-ground missile at the house in the Damrah street, adding that many ambulances are grounded because of lack of fuel making it difficult for the emergency services to operate. The eyewitnesses added that more than 25 IOF tanks and armored vehicles advanced amid intensive gunfire towards the vicinity of the agricultural college in the town reinforced by aerial cover. Israeli drones also fired one missile at least at a group of Palestinian fighters affiliated with the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, east of Beit Hanoun. more.. e-mail
Israeli army thrusts into Beit Hanoun, kills an old man
Rami Almeghari and Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 4/24/2008
A Palestinian old man from northern Gaza Strip was reportedly killed on Thursday after the Israeli army tanks rolled into the area and began shooting heavily. Palestinian medical sources said that Dawood aL-Kafarna, of his fifties, was evacuated to a local hospital after having been shot dead with live ammunition. Witnesses said that more than 30 Israeli armored vehicles including tanks thrust few hundred meters into the Beit Hanoun city in northern Gaza Strip as accompanying bulldozers began razing vast areas of Palestinian-owned farm lands there. Witnesses added that the Israeli forces, using loudspeakers, ordered the local inhabitants to get out of their houses for interrogations. In response to the Israeli incursion , the aL-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, opened heavy fire at a number of tanks, while the brigades fighters engaged in gun battles with the invading. . . more.. e-mail
Palestinian Today 042408
Ghassan Bannoura - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center News 4/24/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file|| 4 m 0s || 3. 66 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Thursday April 24th, 2008. Israeli army invades Gaza, kills one civilian, and kidnaps 20 others, while in the West Bank troops attack a peaceful protest and kidnap two activists. These stories and more coming up, stay tuned. The News Cast Palestinians sources reported that the Israeli army has kidnapped 20 Palestinians civilians so far during an ongoing military operation targeting the town of Beit Hannon in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Witnesses said that soldiers have taken a number of houses and are using them as military posts. They added that troops rounded up at least 20 men and took them to an unknown location. A elder Palestinian man from the northern Gaza Strip was killed earlier. . . more.. e-mail
Israeli settler rams a Palestinians child with his car
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 4/23/2008
A Palestinian child sustained critical wounds on Tuesday night after an Israeli settler hit him with his car near the city of Hebron in the southern part of the West Bank. Ahmad Al Titti, five years old, was standing beside his father on the main road connecting the city of Hebron to rest of the West Bank, when an Israeli settler rammed the child with his car. Local sources said that the Israeli army arrived at the scene and called a Palestinian ambulance that took the child to the public hospital in Hebron city. Medical sources said that the boy sustained critical wounds and fractures in his limps. [end]
The Israeli army kidnaps 13 Palestinians from several parts of the West Bank
Ghassan Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 4/23/2008
During pre dawn invasions targeting several cities and towns in the West Bank, the Israeli army kidnapped at least 13 Palestinians civilians on Wednesday. Eight were kidnapped during an army attack in the villages of Dura and Al Majd near the southern West Bank city of Hebron. Local sources said that troops stormed the two villages, searched and ransacked homes, and then kidnapped eight men and took them to unknown detention facilities. Among those kidnapped today were; Basheer Suliman, Taysseer Amro, Fadi Al Shahateet, and Isma’el Amro. The Palestinian prisoners society in the city of Hebron reported that, including those kidnapped by the army today, the number of Palestinians kidnapped by the Israeli army from the Hebron district since the beginning of 2008 has now reached 382. Moreover, three civilians were kidnapped on Wednesday from the northern west Bank city of Nablus. more.. e-mail
Five civilians injured in Bethlehem on Tuesday night
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 4/23/2008
Palestinian sources reported on Tuesday night that five Palestinian civilians were injured during an army invasion targeting the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem. Troops stormed the city, soldiers opened fire at the civilians in the street, local youth clashed with the invasion troops, witnesses said. Medical sources said that five civilians sustained moderate wounds and were moved to nearby hospital for treatment. [end]
Israel launches two airstrikes against Gaza Strip targets
The Associated Press and Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 4/24/2008
The Israel Defense Forces launched two airstrikes late Wednesday night at targets in the Gaza Strip. One Palestinian militant was killed and three wounded in an Israel Air Force attack near the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, Palestinian security officials reported. Earlier Wednesday, a threatened shutdown of Gaza’s only power plant was averted after Israel agreed to pump one million liters of diesel fuel to the coastal strip. The IDF said early Wednesday that the fuel shipment had already begun. One million liters is enough to power the plant for at least three days. Kaanan Obeid, a Gaza energy official, had warned that the plant was in danger of shutting down Wednesday if fuel weren’t delivered. Israel is the sole source of Gaza’s fuel, but supplies have been sporadic since Palestinian terrorists attacked the Israeli. . . more.. e-mail
Palestinian activists survive Israeli air strike in Khan Younis
Ma’an News Agency 4/23/2008
Gaza Ma’an A group of Palestinian resistance fighters survived an Israeli air strike on the city of Bani Shaila east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip Tuesday evening. Muawiya Hassanain, the director of ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian health ministry told Ma’an that an Israeli warplane fired three missiles at a jeep the activists were traveling in. He confirmed that none of the activists had been hurt, but a bystander was wounded and was taken to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. [end]
Israeli troops shoot and injure Palestinian
Ma’an News Agency 4/23/2008
Ramallah Ma’an A Palestinian man was injured on Wednesday morning when Israeli soldiers opened fire on him in the central West Bank village of Qatanna in Ramallah district. Ma’an’s reporter quoted Palestinian security sources as saying that Israeli soldiers shot and injured Imad Hushiyya while he was near the separation wall in Qatanna. He received a gunshot to his foot and was taken to hospital in Ramallah. The same sources told Ma’an’s reporter that Israeli forces invaded Al-Bira city near Ramallah. No arrests were reported. [end]
IDF strikes in Gaza; several Palestinians hurt
Ali Waked, YNetNews 4/24/2008
Palestinian sources say Air Force fired attwo cells in northern Strip Wednesdaynight -Several people were wounded Wednesday night after the IDF targeted two groups of armed Palestinians in Gaza, sources in the Strip reported. According to reports, the Air Force initially fired a missile at Hamas military wing gunmen in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya. No injuries were reported in that strike. A few minutes later another missile was fired at gunmen in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun. Some of the gunmen were reportedly hurt in the second strike. The IDF confirmed that strike and said that the targets were hit. The IDF has stepped up its attacks on Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip in recent days. On Monday, the army killed three armed Palestinians in two separate strikes. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces apprehend two teenagers near Qalqilia
Ma’an News Agency 4/23/2008
Qalqilia Ma’an Israeli forces raided the northern West Bank village of Hajja east of Qalqilia on Wednesday, apprehending two teenagers. Palestinian security sources said that a large Israeli force stormed the village at dawn and seized 18-year-old Sa’d Addin Yousif and 18-year-old Salam Basalat after raiding their family homes. [end]
Brigades attack Israeli targets
Ma’an News Agency 4/23/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing affiliated to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades along with Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility on Wednesday morning for firing five homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot in the western Negev. They said in a joint statement that the operation was a sign of unity between resistance factions, who will continue to retaliate against the Israeli criminal acts against the Palestinian people. Separately, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the National Resistance Brigades, and the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades said a joint group of their fighters fired two homemade projectiles at an Israeli military base east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday evening. Meanwhile, a group affiliated to Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed. . . more.. e-mail
Israeli forces seize 8 Palestinians in Nablus and Hebron
Ma’an News Agency 4/23/2008
Bethlehem Ma’an Israeli forces apprehended eight Palestinians during several raids on West Bank districts on Wednesday morning. Hebrew sources said the Israeli army seized eight "wanted Palestinians" in Nablus in the northern West Bank and Hebron in the south. The sources said that an explosive device was launched at the Israeli soldiers while they were arresting Palestinians in Nablus. No casualties were reported. Palestinian security sources told Ma’an’s Nablus correspondent that Israeli forces arrested a woman from Balata refugee camp east of Nablus, 28-year-old Ranya Abu Khalifa. They also seized 23-year-old Ahmad Daghlas from the village of Burqa who lives in Rafedia in Nablus, as well as 16-year-old Abdul-Rahim Mabrouk from Nablus. more.. e-mail
The Israeli army kidnaps three civilians near Tulkarem
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 4/23/2008
Three Palestinian civilians were kidnapped by the Israeli army during two invasions targeting the Nur-Shams refugee camp located in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem and the nearby Qafeen village on Wednesday morning. Local sources said that troops invaded the village of Qafeen, searching a number of homes and taking Sa’eed Bikawi, 18, and Fathi Harshah, 17, to unknown detention camps. Meanwhile another force invaded the Nur-Shams refugee camp also searching homes there and kidnapping Sabri Masharkah, 22. [end]
PFLP’s military wing fires two projectiles at Sderot
Ma’an News Agency 4/23/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing affiliated to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades claimed responsibility on Tuesday evening for launching two homemade projectiles at the Israeli city of Sderot in the western Negev. They said in a statement that the shelling came in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people and as affirmation that they will continue resisting Israeli occupation. [end]
Palestinian security seize 5 Hamas affiliates in West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 4/23/2008
Tulkarem Ma’an The Hamas movement said on Wednesday that the Palestinian security affiliated to the West Bank-based caretaker government seized five Hamas affiliates in the West Bank on Tuesday evening. According to a Hamas statement, two affiliates were seized in Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, one in Nablus, also in the north and two more in Hebron in the southern West Bank. [end]
Palestine Today 042308
Ghassan Bannoura - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center News 4/23/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 3 m 0s || 2. 75 MB ||Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Wednesday April 23rd, 2008. The Israeli army allowed fuel into Gaza, while in the West Bank troops kidnap 16 civilians, these stories and more coming up stay tuned. The News Cast The Israeli authorities began shipping large quantities of industrial gasoline to the Gaza Strip’s power plant this morning, after reports said the plant would be forced to shut down by Wednesday due to lack of fuel. Deputy-director of the Palestinian Energy Authority in Gaza, Kan’an Obaid, told media outlets today that the shipments of fuel are estimated at 800,000 to 1,000,000 liters of gasoline, which would enable partial operation of the plant for the next three days. more.. e-mail
Three Palestinian gunmen killed in attack on Israeli military base
Ma’an News Agency 4/22/2008
Gaza Ma’an Three Palestinian fighters were killed on Monday evening in an attack on an Israeli military base near the evacuated Israeli settlement of Dogit in the northern Gaza Strip. Palestinian medical sources identified the fighters as Fadi Salim from the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, ’Uthman Abu Hajar from Ash-Shati refugee camp and Mahmoud Shalash from Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. The military wing affiliated to Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Brigades and the Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades said that a joint group of fighters raided an Israeli military base and clashed with Israeli troops. An unnamed spokesperson from the Al-Aqsa Brigades said that mortar shells were fired at the base to cover the attackers as they went in. Israeli sources confirmed that three Palestinian gunmen had approached an Israeli base in the northern Gaza Strip. more.. e-mail
Israeli army attacks the village Marda: Detains 50 civilians and kidnaps two
Aaron Lakoff & Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 4/22/2008
On Tuesday morning, at least 40 Israeli military vehicles stormed the village of Marda, located near the northern West Bank city of Salfit. The army searched homes, detained 50 civilians, and kidnapped two. Troops surrounded the home of Hazem Ibdah, located in Marda. Soldiers forced his family out, then made the house as a military base, Hazem told the IMEMC. He added that there were around 60 soldiers in his home. Troops then started to round up men between the ages of 17 to 55 from the village and brought them to the home of Ibdah for interrogation. Ibdah added that troops forced men to identify themselves and their occupation, and then sign documents which the soldiers had with them. The operation ended at around 10:00 am on Tuesday when troops left after kidnapping two men from the village. more.. e-mail
Qassam rocket slams into Sderot home; residents suffer shock
Avi Issacharoff, Yuval Azoulay and Mijal Grinberg, Ha’aretz 4/23/2008
Palestinian militants on Tuesday fired three Qassam rockets at Israel, one of which slammed directly into a home in the southern town of Sderot causing a number of residents to suffer shock. The rocket caused property damage to the Sderot home. Another rocket struck an open area and caused a fire, according to Army Radio. A further Qassam rocket hit Ashkelon’s industrial district on Tuesday afternoon. There were no reports of casualties or property damage. On Monday, Gaza militants fired eight rockets at Israel one of which lightly wounded afour-year-old boy was lightly wounded in a western Negev kibbutz. The boy was hurt by shrapnel from the rocket, which had been launched by Palestinian militants in northern Gaza. The Qassam struck in Kibbutz Gevim, close to the rocket-weary town of Sderot. more.. e-mail
Israeli troops kidnap nine Palestinian civilians from the West Bank
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 4/22/2008
Palestinian sources reported that the Israeli army attacked several parts of the West Bank and kidnapped nine civilians on Tuesday morning. Four of those kidnapping were taken from the city of Nablus and nearby Burka village. Troops searched and ransacked homes then kidnapped Maher Baiyado, 17, Sadam Salah, 16 and his brother Munjed, 18, all three from Burka village, while Sami Al Huoh, 26 was taken from his house in Nablus city. In Qalqilia city troops attacked and searched the house of Mohamed Nufal, then took his son Jihad after beating him up, the family reported. Saher Rezik-Allah, 25, was kidnapped by the Israeli army during an invasion targeting the village of Attel near Tulkarem city on Tuesday at dawn. Three men, Kayed Al Namurah, 20, Mohamed Al Sharha, and Mo’taz Abu Zind, 18, were all taken when Israeli troops stormed the village of Dura near Hebron and searched a number of homes there. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces raid Jenin and Qabatia
Ma’an News Agency 4/22/2008
Jenin Ma’an Israeli forces broke into the headquarters of a charity funded by the United Arab Emirates in Jenin as well as raiding the town of Qabatia south of Jenin in the northern West Bank on Tuesday morning. Eyewitnesses said the Israeli soldiers broke down the doors of the charity and ransacked the offices. The same charity was raided a month and a half ago. In Qabatia, Israeli troops stormed the town and raided several homes. No arrests have been reported. [end]
Qassam rocket hits home in Sderot
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 4/22/2008
Some cases of shock among Sderot residents reported after Qassam hits house. Altogether three rockets were fired at Israel on Tuesday - A Qassam rocket hit a home in Sderot on Tuesday, causing some of the residents in the city to be treated for shock. Another rocket landed in open spaces outside Sderot. Altogether three Qassam rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza on Tuesday. Earlier, during the afternoon, a Qassam rocket landed in Ashkelon’s industrial zone. No injuries or damage were reported. The morning was relatively quiet, after yesterday the Air Force attacked gunmen close to the border fence in northern Gaza. The IDF reported that one of the gunmen was killed in the air strike, after which ground forces killed the other two accompanying him. Yesterday a boy was injured from a Qassam rocket that landed in Kibbutz Gevim. more.. e-mail
Palestinian military groups active in Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 4/22/2008
Gaza Ma’an A group of Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility on Monday evening for launching two homemade projectiles at the Israeli city of Ashkelon. Separately, another group said its fighters clashed with an Israeli force stationed in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. The military wing affiliated to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, said their fighters fired two homemade projectiles at the Kfar Azza Israeli Kibuttz. The military groups said in separate statements that their activities were in retaliation for Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people. [end]
PRC’s military wing fire 4 mortars at Israeli forces
Ma’an News Agency 4/22/2008
Gaza Ma’an The An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) claimed responsibility on Tuesday for firing four mortar shells at Israeli forces in the area of Juhr Ad-Dik, north of Al-Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip. They said in a statement that the shelling came in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. [end]
Two Palestinian military groups fire projectiles at Israeli targets
Ma’an News Agency 4/22/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing affiliated to Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility on Tuesday afternoon for launching two homemade projectiles at the Israeli city of Ashkelon. Separately, Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades said their fighters fired a homemade projectile at the same city. The military groups said in separate statements that the shelling emphasized that they are going ahead with resistance in retaliation for Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people[end]
Nahal Oz widows: Dismissed commander was scapegoat
Yonat Atlas, YNetNews 4/22/2008
Widows of Nahal Oz attack victims blame system for husbands’ deaths. Charniak: ’I don’t feel safe here anymore’ -"The entire system is to blame for the deaths of Oleg and Lev; the fact that blame was placed on the shoulders of the regiment commander makes him a scapegoat," Irena Charniak, the widow of Lev Charniak, who was killed during the terrorattack on Nahal Oz , told Ynet. Charniak expressed anger at the dismissal of Lt. -Col. Yair Barnes, due to his failure in dealing with the attack on the fuel terminal. "An investigation committee needs to be set up, in order to examine the conduct during the attack and to check the army’s response, not just that of this particular regiment," she said. Janna Lipson, Oleg’s widow, was not relieved at the commander’s dismissal either. "It doesn’t change a thing," she said. more.. e-mail
Palestinian resistance fighters storm Israeli military post in Beit Lahia
Palestinian Information Center 4/22/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, and the Aqsa Brigades, the groups of martyr Nabil Massoud, announced the death of three of their fighters during a joint operation at night Monday which targeted an Israeli intelligence post west of Beit Lahia town, northern Gaza Strip. In a joint communiquΓ©, the two groups stated that their fighters managed to infiltrate into a fortified Israeli post, north of Dugit, and engaged in fierce clashes with the IOF troops that lasted for an hour and a half during which the fighters used RPGs and grenades before aerial and land reinforcements managed to kill the three fighters. In another context, Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, warned Monday that the Israeli occupation is preparing for new military campaigns against the Gaza Strip, pointing out that the next Israeli political policy is aimed at eliminating. . . more.. e-mail
Anti-skyjack pilot ID system glides through testing
Zohar Blumenkrantz, Ha’aretz 4/23/2008
A month-long pilot program to test a new anti-skyjack system was recently completed with near-perfect results, Haaretz learned yesterday. The Security Code System (SCS), also known as Code Positive, is a pilot identification system for civil aircraft flying in Israeli airspace. In the latest test, the system identified over 90 percent of the participating planes. Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz is to convene a meeting early next month to discuss the ramifications of the pilot test, and to decide whether to install the system for domestic and foreign aircraft flying in Israeli air space. Danny Shenar, head of security at the Transportation Ministry, reported two minor areas of failure in the tests. One was a technical issue involving communication between the aircraft and the ground. The second, which concerned the smart card itself, was corrected in the course of the testing. more.. e-mail
Palestine Today 042208
Ghassan Bannoura - Audio dept, International Middle East Media Center News 4/22/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file|| 4 m 0s || 3. 66 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Tuesday April 22nd, 2008. The Palestinian health ministry warns of an imminent health crisis across the Gaza Strip while in the west Bank the Israeli army kidnaps 11 civilians, these stories and more coming up stay tuned. The News Cast Dr. Fathi Abu Maghli, minister of health in the Palestinian caretaker government based in the West Bank , warned of an imminent health crisis across the Gaza Strip because of the lack of fuel and shortage of supplies that are essential for the delivery of medical services. In his appeal, Abu Maghli pointed out that the health sector in Gaza has recently suffered a great loss of essential items such as fuel for ambulances. more.. e-mail
Israeli military kills three Palestinians in Beit Lahia
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 4/22/2008
On Monday evening, an Israeli ground-to-ground missile and concurrent ground invasion resulted in the deaths of three Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia. The Israeli military reported killing one Palestinian with a tank-fired missile, and two Palestinians in an invasion of northern Gaza by the Gavati unit of the Israeli military. According to Israeli sources, the three who were killed were near the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel. The Israeli military reported that it targeted a group of men who were "too close" to the border fence. The Islamic Jihad reported that it had sent several fighters to engage the Israeli army at the Erez crossing, but did not identify if those killed were the fighters or not. Medical sources have not yet identified the victims. more.. e-mail
Israeli military kills one Palestinian and kidnaps 27 in Beit Hanoun
Ghassan Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 4/21/2008
The Israeli army killed one Palestinian resistance fighter, injured four others and kidnapped at least 27 civilians during an invasion targeting the northern part of the Gaza strip on Monday morning. On Monday at dawn Israeli tanks and bulldozers invaded the town of Beit Hanoun, located in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, troops searched and ransacked homes before kidnapping 27 civilians from the same family, local sources reported. The Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, said that Ikremah Abu Odah, 22, was one of the brigades fighters who was killed, and four other civilians were injured when an Israeli unmanned plane fired missiles at a group of resistance fighters who were trying to stop the army from invading. Witnesses said that troops left Beit Hanoun on Monday late morning. more.. e-mail
Palestinian injured as clashes with israeli soldiers erupted in Azzun near Qalqilia
Ma’an News Agency 4/21/2008
Qalqilia Ma’an A Palestinian man was injured on Sunday evening in clashes with Israeli forces that invaded the village of Azzun east of Qalqilia in the northern West Bank. Palestinian medical sources said 20-year-old Usama Shahada sustained moderate wounds when a rubber-coated metal bullet hit him in the head. Dr Yasser Radwan, director of Azzun medical centre said the Israeli soldiers ransacked the centre, saying they were searching for ’wanted’ Palestinians. He added that the soldiers had denied ambulance access to the injured man. [end]
Boy lightly injured by Qassam in south
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 4/21/2008
Rocket lands in western Negev kibbutz; four-year-old child sitting in car sustains light wounds from shrapnel, vehicle and nearby building sustain damage. Qassam fired several minutes earlier hits open area; no injuries or damage reported - A four-year-old boy, Amir Arad, was lightly injured by shrapnel Monday after a Qassam rocket landed in Kibbutz Gevim in the western Negev. Ilan Arad, the boy’s father, told Ynet, "We had just returned from the north and the boy was sitting at the back seat of the car. As we arrived at the community we heard the Color Red (alert system), and the Qassam landed in our backyard. "The shrapnel infiltrated the car near the fuel tank and hit the boy’s shoulder. He was evacuated to the hospital for medical treatment. " His mother Lior said that the family decided to leave the community after a Qassam rocket landed in the area last Thursday. more.. e-mail
Palestinian man killed by Israeli airstike in Rafah
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 4/21/2008
On Sunday night, Israeli forces launched an airstrike on a vehicle driving on the street in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. The victim was identified as Nur Ad-Dabari. Several bystanders were also injured in the attack. Ad-Dabari’s death brings the number of casualties since Friday to seven. All seven casualties were Palestinians killed by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip. According to the Israeli military, the airstrike in Rafah was an attempted assassination of Ra’ad al-Atar, a leader with the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. [end]
2 dead in Israeli air strikes on Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 4/21/2008
Gaza Ma’an A Palestinian activist affiliated to Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades was killed on Monday morning when Israeli helicopters targeted a group of fighters in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. The dead fighter was named as 22-year-old ’Ikrima Abu ’Uda. The Al-Qassam Brigades announced that a group of their fighters clashed with an undercover Israeli force and fired a homemade shell at them in the early hours of the morning. Separately, the military wing affiliated to Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades said their fighters countered a group of Israeli troops who penetrated into Al-Qarara in the Gaza Strip on Sunday evening. Also on Sunday evening, a Palestinian man Nur Ad-Dabari was killed in an Israeli air strike on a car in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Several bystanders were also injured in the attack. more.. e-mail
Two Palestinian factions claim attack on Israeli force in southern Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 4/21/2008
Gaza Ma’an The Kamal Udwan Brigades, a military group within Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades and the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, themilitary wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, claimed responsibility on Sunday evening for firing an anti-tank missile at an Israeli force east of Al-Qarara in the southern Gaza Strip. The military groups said in a statement that their fighters then opened fire on the Israeli soldiers. The statement added that the operation came to affirm the continuation of resistance. [end]
Fatah’s military wing claim attack on Israeli military jeep in Qalqilia
Ma’an News Agency 4/21/2008
Qalqilia Ma’an The military wing affiliated to Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility on Monday morning for launching an explosive device at an Israeli military jeep in southern Qalqilia in the northern West Bank. They said in a statement that the attack was in retaliation for Israeli crimes in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. [end]
Islamic Jihad’s military wing fires two projectiles at Ashkelon
Ma’an News Agency 4/21/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility on Monday morning for launching two homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Ashkelon. They said in a statement that the shelling was in retaliation for Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people. [end]
IDF commander axed for not confronting militants in fuel depot attack
Yuval Azoulay, Ha’aretz 4/22/2008
Israel Defense Forces chief Gabi Ashkenazi dismissed the commander of the 9th armor battalion from his post Monday over his failure to confront Gaza militants during their attack on the Nahal Oz fuel depot, which led to the murder of two Israeli civilians. According to an internal IDF investigation, the battalion was stationed only 150 meters away from the fuel depot, and yet the commander did not order his soldiers to confront the militants. In the end, it was Givati soldiers who moved in to confront the militants, however they managed to escape back into the Gaza Strip after a gun battle erupted in the area. Most of them were later killed in counter attacks by air and land forces. more.. e-mail
Qassam injures 3 Palestinians in Gaza
Ali Waked, YNetNews 4/21/2008
Rocket hits Beit Hanoun home, lightly wounding three people; Palestinians claim IDF shell fired at house -Qassam attacks hit Palestinians as well. A rocket landed Monday in a Palestinian house in the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, lightly injuring three people. The rocket is believed to have been fired toward southern Israel, accidentally landing within Palestinian territory. Sources in Gaza claimed that a shell fired from an IDF tank caused the injuries. This is not the first incident in which Gazan civilians are hurt by rockets fired by Palestinian gunmen. About two weeks ago, a Palestinian farmer waskilled and another person was injured after being hit by a Qassam rocket not far from the border fence. At first, the Palestinians claimed that the two were hurt by IDF artillery fire, but residents in the area told The Associated Press. . . more.. e-mail
IDF kills 3 Palestinians in Gaza
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 4/21/2008
IAF aircraft fires at group of three gunmen not far from border fence in northern Gaza, killing on of them; Givati force enters Strip, kills two others - The Israel Air Force attacked a group of gunmen spotted near the border fence in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday evening. The Israel Defense Forces reported that one of the gunmen was killed and that a Givati force which entered the Strip shortly afterwards killed the other two. The strike took place north of the town of Beit Lahiya, several meters away from the border fence. An IDF force spotted four armed people moving suspiciously about 300 meters (984. 25 feet) away from the fence. An aircraft fired at them, hitting one of them. more.. e-mail
Unknown gunmen detonate a bomb near a hotel in Gaza
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 4/21/2008
Palestinian local sources reported that a group of unknown gunmen detonated a home-made bomb near the Al Dera Tourist hotel west of Gaza city on Monday morning. The hotel is known as the place where all foreign journalists stay. Witnesses said that the home-made bomb exploded near the hotel. Ambulance cars and firefighting brigades rushed to the scene. Damage to the hotel was reported, but no injures. No Palestinian group has calmed responsibility of the attack. [end]
Eight killed in Israeli raids across Gaza Strip
Middle East Online 4/21/2008
GAZA CITY - At least eight Palestinians were killed Sunday after Israeli forces launched air strikes across the Gaza Strip, a day after Hamas militants detonated explosives-laden vehicles at a border crossing. Two more Palestinians were killed and three wounded during a raid late Sunday in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza strip, bringing the total number of dead to eight, according to medical sources and witnesses. They were killed in an air-to-ground missile strike, the sources said. An Israeli military source confirmed the attack, saying it was aimed at a "group of armed men. " But Palestinian medical sources said one of the dead was a civilian. Six Palestinian fighters, all members of Hamas, the Islamist movement that violently seized Gaza last year and that refuses to recognise Israel’s right to exist, were killed in air raids early Sunday. more.. e-mail
Palestine Today 042108
Ghassan Bannoura - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center News 4/21/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file|| 3 m 0s || 2. 75 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Monday April 21st, 2008. The army invades northern Gaza, killing one Palestinian and kidnapping 27. While in the West Bank Israeli troops close Hebron Old city, these stories and more coming up stay tuned. The News Cast The Israeli army killed one Palestinian resistance fighter, injured four others and kidnapped at least 27 civilians during an invasion targeting the northern part of the Gaza strip on Monday. On Monday at dawn Israeli tanks and bulldozers invaded the town of Beit Hannon, located in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, troops searched and ransacked homes then kidnapped 27 civilians from one family, local sources reported. more.. e-mail
South braces for infiltration from Gaza
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 4/21/2008
Infiltration attempt over weekend leads to tightening of restrictions on Gaza-vicinity communities, residents instructed to refrain from approaching border fence. Defense officials concerned terrorists may use smuggling tunnels to bypass IDF - Residents of Israeli communities neighboring on the Gaza border have long since grown used to daily barrages of mortar shells and Qassam rockets, but the infiltration attempt at the Kerem Shalom crossing on Passover Eve served as a vivid reminder of how close to home the terror threat looms. Defense officials have issued revised security protocols for Gaza-vicinity communities, recommending residents steer clear of border fences and isolated areas. The Sedot HaNegev Regional Council has also stationed security detail around local synagogues, fearing a terror attack. more.. e-mail
Minor explosion near Ad-Dira Hotel on Gaza beach
Ma’an News Agency 4/21/2008
Gaza Ma’an An explosion on Sunday night near the Ad-Dira Hotel on the beach near Gaza City caused some damage to nearby buildings, but no casualties were reported. Sources in the hotel said they did not believe the hotel was being targeted as the explosive device was detonated in an open area near the hotel. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) issued a statement saying a preliminary investigation indicated that at approximately 4:30 on Monday morning, an explosion was heard in western Gaza City on the beach. The southern wall of the hotel fence was damaged and some windows in the hotel were broken. The motive or perpetrators behind the explosion are not known. However the director of Gaza Police, Tawfiq Jaber, stated that the police are carrying out an investigation. He said the hotel is a tourist establishment frequented by internationals, journalists, and Gaza residents. more.. e-mail
Israel kills six Palestinians in air raids across Gaza Strip
Sakher Abu El Oun, Daily Star 4/21/2008
Agence France Presse - GAZA CITY: Israeli forces carried out deadly air strikes across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, a day after Hamas militants detonated explosives-laden vehicles at a border crossing, wounding 13 soldiers. Overnight air raids killed six Palestinian fighters, all members of Hamas, the Islamist movement that won Palestinian elections in 2006, violently seized Gaza last year and refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist. The air attacks began just hours after militants detonated two booby-trapped vehicles disguised as Israeli military jeeps at the Kerem Shalom border crossing used to deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza, whose economy is crippled by an Israeli blockade. Thirteen Israeli soldiers were wounded in Saturday’s attack, which Israeli Major General Yoav Galant described as the "most ambitious launched against our troops" since the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005. more.. e-mail
Gaza Strip crossings shut after attacks
Amos Harel Barak Ravid Yuval Azoulay and Fadi Eyadat, Ha’aretz 4/21/2008
Israel is planning to tighten controls even further over goods allowed into the Gaza Strip, after a series of Hamas attacks on border crossings. Some of the crossings will remain shut today, and may remain so for several days. On Saturday morning, the Israel Defense Forces foiled a Hamas attempt to carry out a combined "hit and grab" attack against the Kerem Shalom crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, aimed at killing and capturing soldiers. Three Hamas gunmen were killed, and 13 IDF soldiers were injured, none seriously. The Kerem Shalom crossing, which is used to transfer humanitarian cargo into the Gaza Strip, is likely to remain closed today for an evaluation of the security arrangements. Last night, there was still no decision on whether to open the Sufa crossing. As for the crossing at Nahal Oz, where fuel is transferred to the Strip, last Thursday Palestinians fired at a fuel truck. more.. e-mail
More death in Gaza as Israeli warplanes fire throughout night and into the morning
Palestine News Network 4/20/2008
Gaza / PNN - Israeli forces are continuing the attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing six Palestinians at dawn Sunday. With a warplane stocked with missiles, Israeli forces hit a group from the Al Qassam Brigades, the armed resistance wing of Hamas. Throughout yesterday Israeli forces killed eight, with a boy dying of wounds sustained during last week’s attacks. Eastern Gaza City’s Al Zeitoun neighborhood was hit several times today, with four others injured by missiles fired from a reconnaissance plane. According to medical sources, Najeeb Al Naser arrived at the hospital "in charred pieces due to heavy shelling. "Four others arrived still alive from the same attack. Their conditions are described from stable to critical. A second raid killed Mohamed Moussa, one of the Qassam activists, east of the Jabaliya Refugee Camp, in the northern Gaza Strip. more.. e-mail
IAF strikes southern Gaza
Ali Waked, YNetNews 4/21/2008
Gaza sources report air force strike on southern Strip town of Rafah; claim IAF failed to assassinate senior Hamas operative, killed two civilians. IDF claims targeting rocket cell - Palestinian sources reported Sunday that an Israeli fighter jet fired at a car driving in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. According to the sources, IAF strike was in fact a targeted assassination attempt gone-wrong on Ra’ad al-Atar, a senior Izz al-Din Din al-Qassam - Hamas’ military wing - operative. Two people, reportedly civilians, were killed in strike. Atar was left unscathed. The IDF confirmed the attack, citing it was targeting a gunmen cell and that the pilots reported hitting the target. Earlier Sunday, Palestinian gunmen fired several mortar shells at framer working the fields of kibbutz Nahal Oz. more.. e-mail
Fatah and PFLP’s military groups fire projectiles at Israeli targets
Ma’an News Agency 4/20/2008
Gaza Ma’an A joint group of Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades and the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, claimed responsibility for launching three mortar shells at an Israeli military base Abu Mtaibeiq east of Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip overnight. Separately, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades claimed responsibility for launching two homemade projectiles at the Israeli settlements of Kfar Azza and Netiv Ha’asara on Sunday morning. The military groups said in separate statements that they will continue resisting occupation in retaliation for "ongoing Israeli criminal acts" against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. more.. e-mail
Two Palestinian military groups fire projectiles at Sderot and Kissufim
Ma’an News Agency 4/20/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing affiliated to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the National Resistance Brigades, claimed responsibility on Saturday evening for firing two homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot. They said in a statement that the shelling came in retaliation for Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. Separately, the military wing affiliated to Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Brigades said their fighters launched a homemade projectile on Sunday morning towards the Kissufim settlement. [end]
7 rockets land in western Negev
Ze'ev Trachtman, YNetNews 4/20/2008
Passover clam interrupted as Color Red alerts sound in western Negev ahead of rocket landings -Seven Qassam rockets landed in open areas in the western Negev Sunday. Afternnon fire resulted in Three rockets landing near Sderot and one in Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council limits. Sunday evening saw Sha’ar Hanegev and Sdot Negev Regional Council hit by two more rockets. No injuries or damage were reported in any of the invidents. Earlier Sunday, two Qassam rockets fired on open areas in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, causing no damage. Six Hamas operatives were killed Saturday in a series of IAF strikes on northern Gaza, which followed Saturday’s infiltration attempt at Kerem Shalom. Security tensions aside, thousands of Israelis used the long weekend and shiny weather to visit the western Negev and Sderot’s Ivim Park. more.. e-mail
Israel to tighten controls at Gaza crossings in wake of attacks
Amos Harel Barak Ravid Yuval Azoulay and Fadi Eyadat, Ha’aretz 4/21/2008
Israel is planning to tighten controls even further over goods allowed into the Gaza Strip, after a series of Hamas attacks on border crossings. Some of the crossings will remain shut today, and may remain so for several days. On Saturday morning, the Israel Defense Forces foiled a Hamas attempt to carry out a combined "hit and grab" attack against the Kerem Shalom crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, aimed at killing and capturing soldiers. Three Hamas gunmen were killed, and 13 IDF soldiers were injured, none seriously. The Kerem Shalom crossing, which is used to transfer humanitarian cargo into the Gaza Strip, is likely to remain closed today for an evaluation of the security arrangements. Last night, there was still no decision on whether to open the Sufa crossing. more.. e-mail
3 Israeli airstrikes kill six Palestinians in Gaza and injure six, including 12-year old girl
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 4/20/2008
In apparent retaliation for a Palestinian resistance attack on Karm Abu Salem crossing earlier Saturday, Israeli forces fired a missile on the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip at 10:55 pm Saturday night, killing four. An earlier air strike in Rafah, in southern Gaza, killed one Palestinian police officer and injured four civilians; and another in Al-Shuja’eyya camp east of Gaza City killed one. Medical sources identified the man killed in the Rafah airstrike as 22-year old Mu’in Hamdona. He was declared dead upon arrival at the Abu Yousef Najjar Hospital in Rafah. The missile apparently targeted Hamdona in an assassination attempt by Israeli forces. Such assassinations are almost daily occurrences in Gaza, although they are illegal under international law due to the large civilian population who are inevitably impacted by the airstrikes. more.. e-mail
Kerem Shalom residents vow not to leave
Yonat Atlas, YNetNews 4/20/2008
Kibbutz inhabitants cannot remember when they were last attacked by a barrage of mortar shells like the one which landed in area as terrorists infiltrated nearby crossing. ’It is safe to say we will not be driven away so easily,’ one of them tells Ynet - Residents of the Gaza vicinity kibbutzim have found themselves in recent days under a shower of mortar shells, Qassam rockets and increasing fears of infiltration attacks, like the one which took place Saturday morning at the Kerem Shalom crossing. Following the attack, which left 13 IDF soldiers injured, the residents spoke about the moments of horror but stressed that they had not plans to leave the area. At 6 am Saturday, the inhabitants of Kibbutz Kerem Shalom woke up to the sounds of mortar shells fired at their area. The men were dispatched to the emergency squad, while the women remained in the fortified rooms with their children. more.. e-mail
Palestinian security seize five Hamas affiliates in the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 4/20/2008
Nablus Ma’an Hamas said in a statement on Sunday that the Palestinian security affiliated to the caretaker government in the West Bank seized five Hamas affiliates in the West Bank on Saturday evening. Hamas released a statement saying three of the arrestees are from Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, one is from Salfit and one is from Qalqilia also in the northern West Bank. [end]
IDF must change operational strategy, says senior officer
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 4/20/2008
Army’s operational strategies called into question as probe into Saturday’s attack on Kerem Shalom crossing continues. ’Staying on the defense begs for an offense,’ says senior IDF officer - The foiled terror attack on Kerem Shalom was an operational success on the IDF’s part, but if the military continues its defensive strategies similar attacks in the future may carry graver results, a senior IDF officer told Ynet on Saturday. Thirteen IDF soldiers were moderately to lightly wounded Saturday morning, as Palestinian gunmen detonated car bombs, fired mortar shells and opened fire on the troops, in what was deemed by the IDF as a foiled abduction attempt. "This was an obvious attempt to make an operational statement," said the officer. "The creativity demonstrated by the terrorists, was meant to carry out a ’quality’ attack. " more.. e-mail
Hamas: Israeli army attacks on fighters signal failure
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 4/20/2008
The ruling Hamas party in Gaza considered Sunday the Israeli army air strikes on Hamas fighters in recent days as an indication of Israel’s failure to strike such fighters in the field. Media spokesman of Hamas in northern Gaza , Abdelatif Qannou’, told media outlets today that the recent Israeli air strikes on fighters signal a "genuine Israeli policy failure" to strike back against the painful resistance attacks, the latest of which was the attack on the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza, where 13 soldiers were wounded. He condemned the political process that has been underway in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party maintains power. He branded it as a dance festival "we condemn continuation of such a festival that comes on the heels of more Israeli killings of our people as well as deliberate undermining of values of peace and safety. more.. e-mail
Funerals for eight victims of Israeli action in Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 4/20/2008
Gaza Ma’an Gaza Ma’an Funeral processions were held on Sunday in the Gaza Strip for eight Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip. Two of the victims were children who died on Sunday of wounds sustained last Wednesday in the Israeli shelling which killed Reuters’ cameraman Fadil Shana’a. Palestinian medical sources named the children as Ahmad Najjar and 16-year-old Bilal Dhaimi. A Palestinian activist affiliated to Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades was killed and four others were injured on Sunday morning when an Israeli reconnaissance plane launched a missile at a group of activists in the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City. Palestinian medical sources said Najib Sarahnah was killed in the attack, while the four injured sustained moderate and serious wounds. On Saturday evening, Al-Qassam Brigades activist Muhammad Mousa was killed in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. more.. e-mail
Christians brawl at revered church in Occupied Jerusalem
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 4/21/2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israeli police rushed into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Occupied Jerusalem to break up fist fights between dozens of Greek and Armenian worshippers on Orthodox Palm Sunday, witnesses said. Some 20 officers intervened after Armenian worshippers threw a Greek Orthodox priest out of the church, sparking a free-for-all, they said. Several worshippers then started beating the police officers with palm fronds they were holding for the Palm Sunday celebrations that mark the return of Jesus to the Holy City a week before he was crucified. After the incident, dozens of members of Jerusalem’s Armenian community marched from the church to the Old City’s police headquarters in protest at the detention of two Armenians. Brawls are not uncommon at the church, which is shared by various branches of Christianity, each of which controls and jealously guards part of site - considered one of the holiest in Christianity. more.. e-mail
Report: 5 killed in IAF strike in Gaza
Hanan Greenberg, Ali Waked, YNetNews 4/20/2008
Palestinian sources report five Hamas gunmen killed in two IAF strikes in northern Gaza. IDF confirms hitting Qassam cell en route to fire on Israel; probe into Kerem Shalom attack continues - Palestinian sources in the Gaza Strip reported Saturday that five Hamas operatives were killed and one wounded in two IAF strikes on the northern Gaza neighborhood of Jabalya. According to reports, an explosion heard in the city around 10:55 pm, turned out to be a fighter jet which fired at least one missile at a moving vehicle driving near the Jabalya Civil Administration headquarters. The second strike was reported just before midnight. The Palestinians reportedly had trouble dispatching ambulances to the scene, seeing how many are literally running on empty due to the fuel shortage. more.. e-mail
’Attack on Kerem Shalom - worst one since pullout,’ says S. Command chief
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 4/19/2008
Maj. -Gen. Yoav Galant visits scene of "terror" attack at Kerem Shalom’s goods crossing, says soldiers’ tenacity prevented mass casualty event -"This is the worst attack we’ve seen since the disengagement," said IDF Southern Command Chief Major-General Yoav Galant Saturday, during a visit to the scene of the "terror" attack at the Kerem Shalom goods crossing. Thirteen IDF soldiers were moderately to lightly wounded Saturday morning, as Palestinian gunmen detonated car bombs, fired mortar shells and opened fire on the troops, in what was deemed by the IDF as a foiled abduction attempt. zz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the group’s military wing, claimed responsibility for the attack. "This incident spanned the entire sector. It was an attempt to abduct and kill as many soldiers as possible," said Galant. more.. e-mail
IOF officer killed, 13 soldiers wounded in Qassam attack
Palestinian Information Center 4/19/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- An Israeli officer was killed and 13 others were wounded in a daring attack launched by fighters of the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, on the Israeli occupation forces’ position in Karm Abu Salem near to the south of the Gaza Strip on Saturday. Hebrew media acknowledged the casualties in the Qassam’s attack on the IOF base in Karm Abu Salem crossing east of Rafah, south of the Strip. They said that army choppers carried the casualties to Soroka hospital, and added that most of the injured soldiers were either slightly or moderately wounded. Israeli hospital sources said that the injuries were a result of blasts, adding that the soldiers sustained penetrating wounds and burns. For his part, Abu Obaida, the Qassam spokesman, described the raid as "qualitative", and stressed that the Israeli casualties were bigger than announced by the Israelis. more.. e-mail
Hamas claims responsibility for car bombing near Kerem Shalom crossing
Ma’an News Agency 4/19/2008
Gaza Ma’an Six Israeli soldiers were injured when Palestinian fighters blew up a three cars near the Kerem Shalom crossing point in the Gaza Strip on Friday. Three Palestinians who carried out the operation were killed, Israeli sources said. Abu Ubeida, the spokesperson for the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said that the Al-Qassam Brigades are responsible for the attack. He said the operation was a response to the poor living conditions imposed on the residents of the Gaza Strip by the Israeli blockade. Abu Ubeida said that fighters used cars rigged with explosives. He said that clashes erupted between Palestinian fighters and Israeli soldiers at that time, and that the explosion was heard as far away as Gaza City. He called the operation "a success for the Palestinian resistance" and a step towards breaking the siege of the Gaza Strip. more.. e-mail
Hamas car bomb injures 13 Israelis
Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem, The Independent 4/19/2008
Hamas suicide bombers in two military-style Jeeps yesterday blew themselves up at a Gaza border crossing, wounding 13 Israeli soldiers. The Israel Defence Forces said the vehicles were detonated after driving through a border fence on the Israeli side. Four Hamas militants, including two in an armoured vehicle accompanying the Jeeps, were killed in the 6am bombing -- timed for the first day of the Jewish Passover holiday. In a second incident close to the kibbutz of Nirim, a tank detonated an armoured vehicle before it could reach the fence. [end]
Barak: Hamas will pay for attack on Gaza crossing
Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz 4/20/2008
Defense Minister Ehud Barak told senior officers at the Israel Defense Forces Gaza Division Saturday that Hamas will pay for the attack on the Kerem Shalom Crossing earlier in the day which left more than a dozen soldiers injured. Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi visited the division and were briefed on the military’s activity following the attack on the Gaza crossing earlier in the day. Two explosive-laden vehicles disguised as military jeeps exploded at the Kerem Shalom crossing on the Israel-Gaza Strip border on Saturday morning, leaving 13 Israel Defense Forces soldiers hurt - one moderately to seriously, two moderately and the rest lightly. Eight soldiers were taken to Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva and the rest were treated on the scene. more.. e-mail
Gaza OP Possible After Bush Visit
Herb Keinon, MIFTAH 4/19/2008
There is a heightened sense in the security establishment that a broad-scale ground incursion inside the Gaza Strip is necessary this summer to deal a severe blow to Hamas’s infrastructure, sources in Jerusalem said Wednesday, following the death of three soldiers in a Gaza ambush. According to the sources, the incursion - similar but more difficult than Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank in 2002 - would not take place until about a month or a month-and-a-half after US President George W. Bush’s planned visit here in mid-May. By then, the last of the world’s leaders to have come here to celebrate the country’s 60th anniversary would have left. The timing would also place the operation in the middle of summer, considered an optimal time for this type of operation. The sources said there was recognition that such an operation would be extremely costly, both in terms of soldiers and Palestinians killed. more.. e-mail
Three Palestinians killed in Gaza crossing raid
Middle East Online 4/19/2008
GAZA CITY - Three Palestinians were killed and 12 Israeli soldiers wounded on Saturday when Hamas resistance fighters, including suicide bombers, stormed a Gaza border crossing with explosives-laden vehicles. Fighters in four vehicles attacked the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza under the cover of mortar fire and heavy morning fog just hours before Jews begin the week-long Passover holiday at sundown on Saturday. Two vehicles exploded at the entrance to and inside the Israeli-controlled crossing, while two other vehicles entered the site, where they engaged in heavy exchanges of fire with troops, the Israeli army and Hamas said. Three Palestinians were killed in the blasts and exchanges of fire, and at least 12 Israeli soldiers were wounded in the attack, the fifth on the Gaza border this week, an army spokeswoman said. more.. e-mail
Hamas commander involved in Kerem Shalom attack killed by IDF
Ali Waked, YNetNews 4/19/2008
Senior commander of Hamas military wing purportedly involved in terror attack on key goods crossing earlier on Saturday targeted in IAF strike. Spokesman for Islamist group declares assault on crossings on Passover Eve ’a great success’ - Several short hours after the combined attack on the Kerem Shalom goods crossing in southern Gaza - one of the Hamas commanders behind the assault has been reported killed in an IDF airstrike on a vehicle transporting armed gunmen in city of Rafah. Hamas has confirmed the identity of the man killed as Muaa’in Abu Hamduna, a senior official in the group’s military wing - the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades - a resident of the Beit Lahiyah region in northern Gaza. Several other Hamas operatives were wounded in the missile strike on Abu Hamduna’s car. more.. e-mail
DFLP fighters attack Israeli bulldozer in Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 4/19/2008
Gaza Ma’an The National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) claimed responsibility for launching a rocket-propelled grenade at an armored Israeli bulldozer in the Ash-Shajaiyeh of Gaza City. Israeli forces entered Gaza on Saturday morning. Earlier, three Palestinian fighters were killed in an assault on the Israeli military-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing point. The DFLP’s fighters also claimed to have launched a homemade projectile at the Israeli town of Sderot, which borders the Gaza Strip. The group vowed to continue to resist the Israeli occupation. [end]
One killed, four injured in Israeli airstrike in Rafah
Ma’an News Agency 4/19/2008
Gaza Ma’an An Israeli warplane bombed a jeep in city of Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, killing a police officer and wounding four other others, among them a young girl on Saturday, witnesses and medics said. Muawiya Hassanain, the director of ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian Health Ministry, said that 22-year-old Mu’in Hamdona was dead when he arrived at Abu Yousef Najjar Hospital. Among the four injured was a 12-year-old girl, Shadia Attiya bin Hassan. Witnesses said an Israeli plane fired a missile at a police jeep belonging to the Gaza Strip’s de facto government. [end]
IOF missile raid kills Palestinian, wounds three others
Palestinian Information Center 4/19/2008
RAFAH, (PIC)-- A Palestinian man was killed and three others were wounded in an IOF air strike that targeted a Palestinian police jeep near the Rafah crossing south of the Gaza Strip at noon Saturday. Medical sources said that Mu’in Hamdouna was a mechanic and was repairing the jeep when the raid took place, which also injured three civilians. A member of the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, was killed earlier Saturday in a similar Israeli aerial bombing. [end]
Teenager seized by Israeli troops in dawn raid near Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 4/19/2008
Nablus Ma’an- Israeli occupation forces arrested at dawn today on Saturday a Palestinian youth from the village of Burka west of Nablus after raiding his home. Palestinian security sources said to our correspondent in Nablus that the occupation forces raided the village and arrested the young man Muhammad Walid Fathi Qasim 19 year old from his house before their withdrawal from the village. [end]
Israeli artillery shell civilian houses near Khan Younis
Ma’an News Agency 4/19/2008
Gaza Ma’an Israeli artillery forces fired rockets on Saturday morning at civilian houses in the Al-Farahin area, east of the city of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, witnesses said. No casualties were reported. [end]
IOA to build 100 settlement units in West Bank
Palestinian Information Center 4/19/2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) on Friday published two tenders for the construction of 100 new settlements units in the West Bank. The Hebrew radio said that the new units would be allocated for families who were evacuated from the Gaza Strip settlements following the Israeli withdrawal. It pointed out that the construction decision was adopted by the housing and construction ministry two months ago. Israeli premier Ehud Olmert had told PA chief Mahmuod Abbas during their meeting earlier this month that his government would continue to build in settlement blocs in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem as they would be part of the Hebrew state in any future agreement with the Palestinians. more.. e-mail
Gaza terror cell attempts to infiltrate southern border
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 4/19/2008
Thirteen IDF soldiers moderately-lightly wounded as Palestinian gunmen detonate car bomb, open fire on troops in apparent abduction attempt near southern border. Hamas claims responsibility for what IDF deems ’biggest incident since disengagement’ - Two soldiers were moderately wounded and 11 more sustained light wounds early Saturday morning after a Palestinian terror cell detonated a car bomb at the Kerem Shalom goods crossing near the security fence along the border in the southern Gaza Strip. Exchanges of fire ensued as IDF troops engaged the Palestinian gunmen, who were apparently attempting to infiltrate the crossing under the cover of heavy fog. A second car bomb, which had also been driven into the crossing, failed to detonate. The bombing constitutes the fifth Palestinian assault on Gaza border crossings since last week. more.. e-mail
Gaza up in Flames, Again [April 13 April 19]
MIFTAH, MIFTAH 4/19/2008
The vicious cycle that is Gaza reached yet another violent peak this week with nearly 30 people killed in the past seven days, 21 on a single day of Israeli bombing. The Israelis were not without loss, however, losing three Israeli soldiers of their own. Thirteen Israeli soldiers were wounded on the morning of April 19 when Hamas Izzedin Al Qassam Brigades detonated three car bombs near the Karem Shalom Crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Three Palestinian operatives died in the operation. Ihab Abu Amro, a 21-year old Qassam activist was also killed in a raid in Gaza City. The bloodiest day by far, however, was April 16 when Israeli air and ground strikes killed a total of 21 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip including five children. The bombing was concentrated in the Gaza City district, with the heaviest shelling in the Shujayieh quarter of the city and the adjacent Breij refugee camp. more.. e-mail
Qassam hits power lines in Sderot causing blackout
Mijal Grinberg , and Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 4/19/2008
A Qassam rocket launched from Gaza hit high-tension power lines in Sderot Friday evening, causing an electricity blackout in several neighborhoods of the western Negev town and a nearby Kibbutz. Another rocket exploded in outside a residential block, slightly damaging it. Police say several people were treated for shock. Sixteen Qassam rockets were fired at Israel on Friday and hit open areas. One caused a fire, which was later contained. No damage or injuries were reported. On Thursday, 17 rockets were fired at the western Negev, including an upgraded Qassam rocket which activated the "color red" alert in Ashkelon. They all hit open areas across the region, but no injuries were reported. more.. e-mail
IDF places full closure on Gaza, W. Bank
Jerusalem Post 4/18/2008
The IDF declared a full closure on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank on Friday, to remain in effect until after the Pessah holiday. IDF vehicles drive through a street in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus during an operation Friday. As Givati Brigade soldier David Papian z"l, who was killed early Wednesday along with two of his comrades in a clash with terrorists who tried to infiltrate Israel, was laid to rest Friday on Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem, Kassam rockets continued to pound southern Israel. A total of 14 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, two of which landed in Sderot. One caused a fired in a kindergarten, which was empty at the time. No wounded were reported as a result of the attacks. Later Friday evening, two more Kassams landed in Sderot. One stuck a high-tension wire and caused power outages in parts of the city. No wounded were reported as a result of the attack. more.. e-mail
PFLP’s military wing vows to continue projectile attacks
Ma’an News Agency 4/18/2008
Gaza Ma’an The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the left-wing Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) have rejected reported remarks by the Mayor of the Israeli city of Ashkelon demanding that the Israeli government strike violently at the Gaza Strip in retaliation for two homemade projectiles that landed in Ashkelon on Thursday. The Brigades told Ma’an that: "The battle with the enemy is still going on. "They indicated that the projectiles that were launched at Ashkelon were of the latest types. The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades vowed to continue their attacks and launch more projectiles, pledging security to Israelis security as long as the Palestinian people are in danger. The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades also claimed responsibility for launching a projectile at Ashkelon at 1. more.. e-mail
Three people feared buried in collapsed Gaza tunnel
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 4/19/2008
AL-ARISH, Egypt: An Egyptian security official said three people were feared buried on Friday under the rubble of a collapsed tunnel used by smugglers to ferry goods to and from the Gaza Strip. "Palestinian authorities informed us that the tunnel has collapsed," the official told AFP. "We suspect that three people are trapped inside. "Authorities are searching for the opening of the tunnel on the Egyptian side of the divided border town of Rafah, the official said. Israel has repeatedly accused Egypt of doing too little to counter alleged arms smuggling through tunnels dug from Gaza into Egypt. The accusations have been vehemently denied by Cairo. [end]
Three survive collapse of tunnel underneath Gaza-Egypt border
Ma’an News Agency 4/18/2008
Gaza Ma’an Three people survived the collapse of a tunnel underneath the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on Friday in the town of Rafah, local sources said. Witnesses told Ma’an that the tunnel collapsed late on Thursday night in the As-Salam neighborhood at the Egyptian border. Three people were pulled from the rubble. No one was killed. Muawiya Hassanain, the director of ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian health ministry said that Gazan hospitals did not treat anyone for wounds resulting from the collapse of the tunnel. [end]
Hamas, Islamic Jihad fighters claim several attacks in Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 4/18/2008
Gaza Ma’an The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, claimed responsibility for launching four homemade projectiles at an Israeli special forces position in Juhor Ad-Dik, in the Gaza Strip, on Friday at dawn. Separately, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for launching two missiles at Israeli sites named "Nair Tshak" and "Holit," east of the city of Khan Younis. The Al-Quds brigades also said that they launched a homemade projectile at the city of Ashkelon, north of Gaza. The groups also said that their fighters survived Israeli shelling in the northern Gaza Strip. [end]
Israeli forces seize 10 Palestinians near Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 4/18/2008
Nablus Ma’an Israeli forces raided the West Bank village of Beita, south of the city of Nablus, at 1am on Friday and seized ten young Palestinian men, witnesses said. Witnesses said 15 Israeli military vehicles entered the village. Israeli troops stormed several houses. Local sources identified some of the detainees as: 21-year-old Luay Taysir Barham, 18-year-old Khalid Mohammed Hamdan, his brother 20-year-old Mu’ath Hamdan, 20-year-old Ayoub Hamad Salim A’deely, 26-year-old Sharida Hamad Jabali and Mutaz Ahmed Jabali 22-year-old and 18-year-old Ma’moun Hamid Jabali and 22-year-old Fahad Rashid Hamayel. [end]
Abu Ali Mustafa brigades fire projectiles at Sderot
Ma’an News Agency 4/18/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, claimed responsibility on Friday for firing two homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot. They said in a statement that their fighters launched the projectiles as a response for Israeli massacres in Gaza and the West Bank. Israeli media reported that six projectiles have landed in Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip, including three in Sderot, on Friday afternoon. No injuries were reported. One projectile was reported to have caused a fire near a school. [end]
Al-Quds brigades fire projectiles at Israeli Kibbutz
Ma’an News Agency 4/18/2008
Gaza Ma’an The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for launching two homemade projectiles at the Israeli Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha and neighboring Nirim, near the Gaza Strip, on Friday. The group said the attack was a response to "Israeli massacres in the Gaza Strip and the assassination of Palestinian leaders and activists affiliated to the movement in Jenin. " Israeli forces assassinated two Al-Quds Brigades leaders on Thursday in the West Bank town of Qabatiya, near Jenin. [end]
Islamic Jihad fighters claim projectile attack
Ma’an News Agency 4/18/2008
Gaza Ma’an The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility on Friday for shelling Al-Majdal, to the north of the Gaza Strip. The statement says that the attack came in response to the ongoing Israeli crimes on the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza strip and for the assassination of two Al-Quds Brigades leaders in Jenin on Thursday. [end]
Three Hamas members ’arrested’ in the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 4/18/2008
Nablus - Ma’an Fatah-allied Palestinian security forces arrested three members of Hamas in the West Bank on Thursday, Hamas said. In a statement Hamas said that the security forces arrested Amjad Zamel from his home in the city of Nablus, and Ramez Abu Salha and Samir An-Nakib during a march marking Palestinian prisoners’ day. [end]
The Al-Quds brigades launch two mortar shells against Kissufim
Ma’an News Agency 4/18/2008
Gaza Ma’an The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility on Friday for firing two mortar shells at a control room at the Israeli military installation at Kisufim, near the Gaza Strip. The Al-Quds Brigades vowed to continue to resist Israeli occupation. [end]
7 Qassams land in south; no injuries
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 4/18/2008
Three rockets land in Sderot, one explodes near school causing a fire. Earlier Friday four Qassams hit western Negev, kibbutz south of Ashkelon. Non injuries reported in any of the attacks - Seven Qassam rockets landed in Sderot and the western Negev since Friday noon. No injuries were reported in any of the attacks, but a fire broke out in the southern town. The latest barrage hit at 5:30 pm, when a Qassam landed near the entrance to the town, causing no injuries or damage. Earlier, three Qassam rockets were fired at Sderot. Two of the rockets landed in town; one fell near a school and caused a fire. The third rocket fell within Palestinian territory. Shortly after noon Qassams landed in open areas in the Eshkol Regional Council, near a kibbutz in the Sdot Negev Regional Council and in a kibbutz south of Ashkelon. more.. e-mail
Qassam lands in Sderot; 2 women suffer shock
Ze'ev Trachtman, YNetNews 4/18/2008
Rocket hits yard near house in southern town Friday evening; two local women treated for shock, one evacuated to hospital. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for attack. Seven Qassams land in Sderot, western Negev earlier - A Qassam rocket landed in the yard of a house in Sderot Friday evening. Two women suffered shock; one of them was evacuated to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. Shortly after 9:45 pm the Color Red alert system was heard in town, followed by a loud explosion. Magen David Adom emergency services, police units and firefighters were called to the rocket’s landing site. Damage was caused to a nearby house and to a portable shelter in the area. Officials at the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council reported of a power outage in one of the kibbutzim near town due to the attack. more.. e-mail
Palestinian killed in West Bank
Al Jazeera 4/18/2008
Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank have killed a Palestinian fighter, a military spokeswoman said. Hani al-Kaabi, 26, a local leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus, died from an exchange of fire on Friday. Local medical sources said the fighter had more than 10 bullet wounds throughout his body and it appeared that he was shot dead after he was wounded. Having escaped from a Palestinian prison earlier this year, al-Kaabi was wanted by Israel for conducting and planning attacks, the military spokeswoman said. She claimed he had masterminded a foiled plot to poison food in a restaurant near Tel Aviv. Palestinian sources said al-Kaabi was killed by Israeli special forces members disguised as Palestinians. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces assassinate Al-Aqsa brigades leader in Balata refugee camp
Ma’an News Agency 4/18/2008
Nablus Ma’an Israeli special forces assassinated a prominent leader in the armed wing of Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, injured a Palestinian woman and arrested two others during a raid in Balata refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Nablus on Friday morning. The Israeli forces killed 26 year-old Al-Aqsa Brigades fighter Hani Al-Qa’bi and seized 28-year-old Samer Abu Leil, a fighter affiliated with Islamic Jihad, who was also wounded in the attack near the old mosque in the center of the camp. 29-year-old Ruwaida Abu Leil was injured, witnesses said. Hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets of the camp, carrying Al-Qa’bi’s body, shouting nationalist slogans and calling for revenge. The Israeli intelligent services accused Al-Qa’bi of an attempt to poison dozens of Israelis. Two Palestinians from Nablus confessed that Al-Qa’bi provided them with poison. more.. e-mail
QB: Operation "death field" disturbed IOF calculations
Palestinian Information Center 4/18/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- Abu Obaida, the spokesperson of the Qassam Brigades (QB), the armed wing of Hamas Movement, said on Thursday that the IOF calculations were confused after the stunning QB attack on IOF troops east of Gaza city Tuesday. Three Israeli occupation soldiers of the elite Jivati brigade were killed and five others were wounded in the QB attack near the Zaitun suburb, east of Gaza city. In press statement he made Thursday in Gaza city, the QB spokesman confirmed that the Israeli occupation army had lost a new round, and the attack eroded elements of the myth the Israeli deterrent force. "We dubbed this operation as the death field because it was indeed a death field for the infiltrating Jivati soldiers who were surprised by the attack", Abu Obaida said. Answering questions on Hamas’s schedule for retaliation, Abu Obaida underlined that the QB was capable of responding. . . more.. http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/en/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s79XuUlJjJjthajuzaOHsL%2bab%2fL1OzEGu06%2b3dRNRHxbm%2brwgzHVdKN%2bEJo%2b74bf0o7sLZPZ5IdFMQKp8nfXO6wLs7SC2uT6es2Bg7wqUPe4g%3dhtm.txt
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Israel issues settlement tenders
Al Jazeera 4/18/2008
The Israeli government has announced plans to build 100 new homes in two settlements in the occupied West Bank. An Israeli housing ministry advertisement, published on Friday, offered tenders for 48 homes in the settlement of Ariel and 52 homes in the smaller enclave of Alkana, despite strong protests from the Palestinians. Israel confirmed the plans in a written statement to Al Jazeera. In the statement, the housing ministry said the "52 housing units in Alkana substitute old housing units, which were built when the settlement was created 25 years ago". "The 48 housing units in Ariel were approved by the ministry of defence many months ago, and they are inside an existing neighbourhood," the statement said. The 2003 "road map", reaffirmed by Israeli and Palestinian leaders at a conference hosted by George Bush, the US president, in November last year, requires a halt to all settlement activity on occupied land where Palestinians seek statehood. more.. e-mail
Bids for 100 new homes in settlements issued
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 4/18/2008
Construction in settlements continues as Housing Ministry decides to lease plots owned by government in towns of Ariel, Elkana. Peace Now: Government destroying chances for peace. Yesha Council: This is not enough - The Housing and Construction Ministry on Friday issued bids for the leasing of plots on which 100 new residential units are scheduled to be constructed in the West Bank settlements of Ariel and Elkana. The Peace Now movement said in response that "the government is destroying the chance to reach a settlement with the Palestinians, and turning the Annapolis peace summit into an irrelevant joke. " According to Peace Now director Yariv Oppenheimer, "The bids are a deadly blow to the political peace process. In order to appease the settlers, the government is allowing the construction of thousands of homes in the Palestinian territories, and torpedoing any chance of reaching a peace agreement. more.. e-mail
Two killed in West Bank raid
Mark Tran, The Guardian 4/17/2008
Israeli troops killed a Palestinian militant and a teenager today during a raid in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said. Islamic Jihad said the militant was Bilal Komel, 25, a military commander long-wanted by Israel. The second was identified as 19-year-old Ayed Zakarna. They were shot after Israeli soldiers surrounded the house in which they were believed to be hiding. An Israeli army spokeswoman said troops fired at militants after they refused to leave a car parked in the driveway of the home, in the Qabatiya refugee camp near the city of Jenin. Today’s raid followed the deadliest day in Gaza for a month, when 17 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and three Israeli soldiers, were killed. Hundreds of Palestinians, including many local journalists, took part in a funeral procession for a Reuters TV cameraman killed while covering yesterday’s fighting. His body was draped in a Palestinian flag and his shattered camera and flak jacket were raised on a separate stretcher. more.. e-mail
Two senior Islamic Jihad leaders killed in Qabatia
Ma’an News Agency 4/17/2008
Jenin Ma’an Two senior leaders of Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades were killed on Thursday morning after Israeli forces besieged them in a house under construction in the northern West Bank town of Qabatia, south of Jenin. Sources within Al-Quds Brigades identified the victims as 26-year-old Bilal Kameel and 19-year-old Iz Addin ’Uwaidat. According to the Islamic Jihad sources Kameel was one of the senior Islamic Jihad leaders in the northern West Bank. The operation began at 2:30 am when an Israeli force accompanied by two bulldozers stormed the eastern neighborhood of Qabatia and besieged a house under construction where the two activists were hiding. The troops called them through loudspeakers asking them to surrender, but they refused and clashed with the Israeli soldiers who fired missiles at the house killing both activists. more.. e-mail
IOF troops assassinate Jihad commander and his associate
Palestinian Information Center 4/17/2008
JENIN, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces at dawn Thursday assassinated two commanders of the Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad Movement, in Qabatia town, Jenin district. Local sources said that town residents found the body of Bilal Kemail, 25, who is the Quds Brigades commander, and his associate Ezzeddin Zakarna, 19, in a deserted house in the village. They said that IOF troops encircled the house east of Qabatia at 0200 local time and engaged the resistance fighters for a few hours before killing them. Bodies of the two martyrs were burnt, locals said, and noted that two brothers of Zakarna were previously killed at the hands of IOF soldiers. The IOF soldiers on Thursday kidnapped ten Palestinians in Nablus city after breaking into many houses. The Hebrew media reported that IOF troops rounded up 23 Palestinians in the West Bank over the past 24 hours. more.. e-mail
Palestinian activist killed, two others injured in southern Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 4/17/2008
Gaza Ma’an An activist from Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades was killed and two others were injured in clashes with Israeli troops near the Kerem Shalom crossing in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, according to Palestinian medical sources. Mu’awiya Hassanain, the director of ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian health ministry said that the ministry had to liaise with the Israeli authorities to let ambulances take the dead man and the injured activists to Abu Yousif An- Najjar Hospital in Rafah. Palestinian medical sources identified the dead man as Usama Abu ’Anza. Also on Thursday the Al-Qassam Brigades announced that two of their activists, Abdullah Sulaiman and Muhammad Al-Mutawwaq, succumbed to wounds they sustained a few days ago in an ambiguous explosion in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip. more.. e-mail
Hamas asks all armed wings to retaliate to IOF massacres
Palestinian Information Center 4/17/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Hamas Movement has called on its armed wing the Qassam Brigades and armed wings of all Palestinian factions to retaliate to the Israeli occupation forces’ massacre in Breij in central Gaza on Wednesday. Hamas regretted the fact that Arab countries were receiving Israeli leaders in their capitals and supply them with petrol, which is used in killing Palestinian women and children, while Palestinian ambulance vehicles could not find enough fuel to rescue the wounded and evacuate the victims. It urged PA chief Mahmoud Abbas to return to the "embraces of his people before it is too late", adding that the Palestinian people would not remain patient for long. Hamas said that the new IOF massacre in Breij would only "double our people’s insistence on confronting the occupiers", who were exposed before the world for targeting civilians. more.. e-mail
Gaza Strip braces for more violence
Middle East Online 4/17/2008
The Gaza Strip braced for more violence on Thursday after three Israeli soldiers and 18 Palestinians, one a cameraman for an international news agency, were killed in a helicopter-backed incursion. Hamas has vowed to avenge Wednesday’s assault on the impoverished territory, but Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the Islamist movement bears "direct responsibility" for the fighting. "We consider that Hamas bears sole, direct responsibility for what happened in Gaza and it will pay the price," Olmert said in an interview with Israel’s Maariv newspaper. Israel has repeatedly threatened to launch a widescale operation to oust Hamas from the Gaza, but local media have speculated that it may wait until after the Jewish Passover holiday, which begins on Saturday. Police have gone on high alert for the holiday, deploying thousands of reinforcements throughout the country as the. . . more.. e-mail
10 rockets fired at southern Israel
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 4/17/2008
Attacks on western Negev resume as Qassams land in Eshkol, Sdot Negev and Sha’ar Hanegev regional councils. Two rocket falls outside Ashkelon. No injuries or damage reported - Ten rockets were fired from Gaza at southern Israel since Wednesday night, landing in open fields in the western Negev. No injuries or damage were reported in any of the attacks. Four of the rockets landed within Eshkol Regional Council limits, three fell in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council and one landed south of the town of Netivot - a location scarcely targeted by the Palestinians. Two rockets landed outside Ashkelon as well: One rocket landed in the city’s industrial zone on Thursday afternoon, shortly after a siren sounded in the area. Wednesday night saw the city’s residents awake to the sound of the Color Red alert near 3:30 am: "I woke up to the sound of two distant blasts. more.. e-mail
IDF foils infiltration from Gaza
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 4/17/2008
Desert Patrol force identifies Palestinian cell approaching fence near Kerem Shalom border crossing, opens fire at gunmen, killing one and wounding another. Palestinians say men belonged to Hamas - An IDF force thwarted an attempt by three Palestinian gunmen to infiltrate Israel near the Kerem Shalom border crossing in southern Gaza Thursday noon. A Desert Patrol force indentified a cell of three Palestinians approaching the border fence and opened fire at them. One of the men was killed and a second one was injured, while the third managed to escape and is currently being pursued by the soldiers. Hamas confirmed that one of its operatives was killed in a clash with the IDF near the Kerem Shalom crossing, but did not report whether the clash occurred during an infiltration attempt. more.. e-mail
Palestinians fire at trucks transporting fuel to Gaza
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 4/17/2008
Despite complaints of fuel shortages, terrorists attempt to disrupt fuel supply to Strip - Shooting themselves in the foot: Only a week after the lethal terror attack at the Nahal Oz fuel terminal, and after complaining of fuel shortages, terror groups are again targeting Israelis supplying fuel to the Gaza Strip. Thursday afternoon, Palestinians opened fire at trucks transporting fuel to the Strip at the Nahal Oz fuel terminal. No injuries or damages were reported in the latest attack. The fuel supply to Gaza was renewed on Wednesday, after the transport of diesel fuel was halted for a week. On Monday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered that the fuel supply to the Gaza power station be renewed. The decision was taken after Egyptian authorities requested the move. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces arrest 20 Palestinians across West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 4/17/2008
Nablus Ma’an Twenty Palestinians were seized by Israeli forces on Thursday in cities across the West Bank. Israeli forces arrested 11 Palestinians in several neighborhoods of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Palestinian security sources told Ma’an’s reporter that more than 50 Israeli military vehicles raided the city from three directions overnight. They ransacked several homes under the pretext of searching for ’wanted’ activists, before arresting 11 people. 8 others were seized in the district of Tulkarem and one in the district of Salfit. [end]
Islamic Jihad’s military wing targets Israeli towns
Ma’an News Agency 4/17/2008
Gaza Ma’an The Palestinian resistance on Thursday intensified homemade projectiles attacks on Israeli towns bordering the Gaza Strip. The military wing affiliated to Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility for firing six homemade projectiles at the Israeli towns of Sderot, Ashkelon and Nir Yitzhaq. They said in a statement that the shelling was in retaliation for Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. [end]
VIDEO - News / 20 Palestinians, three IDF soldiers killed in Gaza Strip
Haaretz Staff and Channel 10, Ha’aretz 4/17/2008
Haaretz. com/Channel 10 news roundup for April 16, 2008. 20 Palestinians are killed in IDF strikes in the Gaza Strip. Hamas militants kill three IDF soldiers in an ambush in Gaza. Thousands sing happy birthday to Pope Benedict XVI at a white house ceremony [end]
Israelis kill at least 19 in Gaza, mostly civilians
Daily Star 4/17/2008
Israeli forces killed at least 19 Palestinians, most of them civilians and including a cameraman for an international news agency, as troops backed by helicopters stormed Gaza Wednesday. The bulk of the attacks came after three Israeli troops were killed in a Hamas ambush near a border fuel pipeline. Fadel Shana, 23, a Reuters cameraman, was critically wounded when a projectile hit his vehicle in central Gaza. He died after being taken to hospital, Dr. Muawiya Hassanein, the head of Gaza emergency services, told AFP. An AFP photographer driving behind the Reuters jeep, which had large TV and press stickers plastered across its doors, roof, and hood, said the vehicle burst into flames after a missile slammed into it. When a group of photographers rushed to try to rescue their colleague a second missile struck the area, he said. more.. e-mail
Three Israeli soldiers killed in ambush near Gaza border
Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 4/17/2008
Three Israel Defense Forces soldiers from the elite Givati Brigade were killed on Wednesday in an exchange of heavy gunfire with Palestinian militants next to the Gaza Strip security fence. A preliminary IDF investigation suggests that an operational error occurred during the soldiers’ raid, a senior officer in the Southern Command told Haaretz. The officer said that the army was investigating why reinforcements were not sent to back up the Givati troops and whether the soldiers were sent on the correct path. The IDF said that the clashes occurred near Kibbutz Be’eri, in the western Negev, as troops entered the Strip to arrest a band of suspicious figures. The soldiers were killed after troops spotted two Hamas militants planting a bomb near the Israeli border. more.. e-mail
Undercover Israeli force seize ’pardoned’ Fatah activist
Ma’an News Agency 4/16/2008
Jenin Ma’an Israeli forces seized a ’pardoned’ Fatah activist in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank on Wednesday. Local sources identified the arrestee as Muhammad Jabarin, who was affiliated to Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades and was due to be granted amnesty by Israeli intelligence. The sources explained that an undercover Israeli force driving a car with Palestinian license plates infiltrated into the camp from the west. They stormed Jabarin’s house and arrested him. Confrontations then erupted between Palestinian youths and Israeli forces. Jabarin had signed the amnesty deal granted by the Israelis and was staying in the Palestinian security headquarters. Commenting on the arrest, Al-Aqsa Brigades leader, Zakariyya Zubaydi, who was also included in the amnesty deal, said he held the Palestinain Authority responsible for Jabarin’s arrest. more.. e-mail
IOF artillery shells Palestinian hospital
Palestinian Information Center 4/16/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- Two IOF artillery shells slammed into the Wafa’a hospital east of Gaza city at dawn Wednesday severely damaging the ground floor, X-ray department and the laboratory, the hospital administration said in a press release. The shelling also severed electricity, water and telephone lines, it said, strongly denouncing the act especially when the hospital serves hundreds of aged persons, wounded and handicapped. It noted that the eastern fence of the hospital was destroyed in the bombing, and underlined that the hospital is specialized in extending rehabilitation services and specialized surgeries. The hospital appealed to international institutions, legal groups and WHO to immediately intervene to save the health sector in Palestine, which is experiencing difficulties due to the siege and closure of crossings and now shelling. more.. e-mail
Kibbutz homes damaged by Qassams
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 4/16/2008
At least 19 rockets fired towards Israel since morning hours, several buildings sustain damages in afternoon barrage - Nine Qassam rockets were fired towards Israel on Wednesday afternoon in the latest barrage by Palestinian terror groups in northern Gaza. The rockets landed throughout the western Negev, with one landing in Kibbutz Nir Am and damaging several homes. Another rocket landed in Sderot’s industrial zone. At least 19 rockets have been fired from the Strip since the early morning hours. No injuries have been reported in any of the incidents. Rocket shell near Sderot on Wednesday (Photo: Ze’ev Trachtman)"The rocket landed near the kibbutz’s perimeter fence, several houses were damaged by the impact and shrapnel," said Ofer Lieberman, a member of Kibbutz Nir Am. "Today it’s a little more tense, because of recent events - not that we ever truly. . . more.. e-mail
IOF artillery targets Gaza mosque
Palestinian Information Center 4/16/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- IOF artillery fired at and partially destroyed and burnt Al-Salam mosque in Sha’af area east of Gaza city other than demolishing fences of a religious school. The IOF shelling burnt copies of the holy Quran and the mosque’s pulpit. The ministry of Awkaf and religious affairs in the PA caretaker government in Gaza condemned the Israeli targeting of places of worship, and described the targeting of mosques and schools as a "serious pointer and a flagrant violation of the sanctity of mosques and places of worship". It said that the crime was not strange coming from the IOF "criminals" who commit daily war crimes against the unarmed Palestinian people using warplanes and all types of weaponry. The ministry asked the Arab and Islamic countries along with all freedom loving peoples to urgently act in support of Palestine and its people, mosques and holy shrines in face of the Zionist crimes. more.. e-mail
Police on high alert ahead of Passover, Israel 60 celebrations
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 4/17/2008
Security forces step-up counterterrorism efforts throughout coming months, though police urge Israelis to ’go out and celebrate. ’ In Sderot, many fear Passover seder will be ruined - Police have raised their alert level throughout the country on Wednesday ahead of the Passover holiday and a series of events related to Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations. The defense establishment cites nine specific alerts based on intelligence information warning of viable terror plots. This in addition to dozens of general warnings. These will result in closures on the West Bank, due in part to the threats of retaliation against Israel for the recent assassination of senior Hizbullah commander Imad Mugniyah in Damascus. Thousands of police officers, Border Guard officers and Civil Guard volunteers are being dispatched throughout the country, while Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen cancelled all the vacations and trainings toward the effort. more.. e-mail
20 Palestinians, including Reuters man, killed in heavy Gaza clashes
Amos Harel and Yoav Stern, Ha’aretz 4/17/2008
Twenty Palestinians were killed yesterday, including a Reuters cameraman, in Israel Defense Forces operations in the Gaza Strip, making yesterday one of the bloodiest days in recent times in Gaza. Most of the clashes came in the afternoon in the center of the Strip, not far from the place where three Israeli soldiers were killed in a Hamas ambush earlier in the day. The fierce day of fighting started at around midnight on Tuesday, when a patrol from the Givati infantry brigade, accompanied by armored and artillery forces, entered the Sajawiya neighborhood on the east side of Gaza City. The soldiers exchanged fire with armed Palestinians, mostly from Hamas. One Givati soldier was moderately wounded in the thigh by a sniper. The soldiers killed four Hamas gunmen. According to military sources, the Palestinians even fired from the minaret of a mosque, and the IDF returned fire at the mosque and later blew up explosive devices found inside the mosque. more.. e-mail
Eighteen dead as Gaza erupts in violence
Allegra Stratton, The Guardian 4/16/2008
Fifteen Palestinians, including at least four members of Hamas, and three Israeli soldiers have been killed in separate clashes inside the Gaza Strip today. According to Hamas, eight Palestinians were killed this afternoon when Israeli helicopters fired four missiles into central Gaza. Different accounts by Palestinian witnesses said they heard separate explosions. The Israeli army confirms a helicopter fired at a group of armed Palestinians. Earlier today, three Israeli soldiers and 4 Hamas gunmen were killed in clashes near Gaza’s main fuel terminal. Hamas said Israeli soldiers backed by helicopters killed four of their members during fighting east of Gaza city, a few hundred metres from the Nahal Oz border terminal used to supply fuel to the coastal territory. An army spokeswoman, Major Avital Leibowich, said the soldiers were killed in a battle with Palestinian gunmen who were approaching the fuel terminal. more.. e-mail
In an IOF massacre: Twelve Palestinian civilians killed
Palestinian Information Center 4/16/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- An IOF missile raid targeting a group of citizens in central Gaza Strip on Wednesday killed 12 Palestinians while many others were wounded, medical sources reported. They said that the massacre was committed near Ihsan Mosque east of Juhr Al-Dik in central Gaza, and noted that among the martyrs were a mother and her son. Eyewitnesses said that six IOF Apaches fired four to six missiles at a group of citizens including children who were playing near a field in Juhr Al-Dik. Paramedics said that most of the martyrs’ bodies were dismembered as a result of the shelling. The number of Palestinian martyrs so far on Wednesday rose to 17 after the death of a Palestinian citizen this afternoon in two IOF air raids in Beit Lahia north of Gaza that also wounded five citizens. Four members of the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, were killed at dawn Wednesday while confronting an IOF incursion east of Shujaiah suburb in Gaza city. more.. e-mail
Four Qassam fighters killed during confrontations with IOF troops in Gaza city
Palestinian Information Center 4/16/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, mourned the death of four of its fighters including a field commander called Abdelkarim Al-Khaisi, 35, during confrontations at dawn Wednesday with IOF troops that invaded the east of the Shujaiyeh neighborhood in Gaza city. The armed wing had announced Tuesday evening that its fighters managed to detonate an anti-personnel explosive device and fire a number of mortar shells at an Israeli special force that infiltrated into the neighborhood. The IOF troops admitted the injury of one of its soldiers. In the evening of the same day, Palestinian medical and security sources told the PIC reporter that a fighter of the Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, called Abdullah Al-Ghussein was killed and three others were wounded when an Israeli warplane fired an air-to-ground rocket at Ghussein while riding his motorcycle in the Falluja area, north of the Gaza Strip. more.. e-mail
Israelis kill 19 in Gaza, claim to stop non-existent fuel supply due to death of 2 soldiers
Palestine News Network 4/16/2008
Gaza / PNN -- Israeli forces killed 19 Palestinians Wednesday in the Gaza Strip. Beginning this morning they killed four members of Hamas and one from Islamic Jihad in the Al Shajaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City. Two Israeli soldiers were killed. Later Israeli forces killed another Palestinian and two soldiers were injured in Beit Lahiya in the northern Strip. And at 5 pm, nine Palestinians were blown apart in the central Strip’s Al Bureij Refugee Camp, the site of days of destruction and killing. Among them was Reuters cameraman, Fadal Shana’a, and throughout the day a high number of children. Mohammad Dahlan sent his condolences. As of 9:30 pm the death toll is nearly 20, with a large proportion being children as attacks against Al Burjeij continue. In a targeted bombing of homes in Al Bureij Refugee Camp in the central Strip, Israeli forces killed nine more Palestinians and injured 20 just after 5:00 pm. more.. e-mail
Cameraman among 20 dead as violence in Gaza escalates
The Independent 4/16/2008
At least 17 Palestinians -- including a Reuters cameraman filming tank movements -- and three Israeli soldiers were killed yesterday in the heaviest day of Gaza bloodshed since early March. In the most lethal incident, an Israeli helicopter fired four missiles which landed near the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza killing nine Palestinians including two youths, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The air strikes came after three Israeli soldiers were killed by Palestinian militants -- in an apparent ambush -- when they advanceda few hundred metres into central Gaza in what the Army said was an operation against gunmen who had approached the border fence. The casualties, many of them apparently civilians, dimmed still further any hopes of attempts -- supported by among others the former US president Jimmy Carter, currently touring the Middle East -- to broker. . . more.. e-mail
Heavy exchanges of fire in Gaza; 10 Qassams fired at Negev
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 4/16/2008
Givati Brigade force enters Strip after identifying gunmen near security fence, two soldiers sustain light to moderate wounds in ensuing clashes; IDF soldiers operating near Khan Yunis detain a number of Palestinians. Rockets fired toward Negev region land in open areas; no injuries reported - The IDF launched a series of aerial attacks against targets in Gaza late Tuesday and during the early hours of Wednesday morning, while IDF ground forces clashed with Palestinian gunmen at several points in the Strip. Israeli troops had entered central Gaza after midnight in what the military spokesman said was a routine operation to target militants launching rockets. Wednesday morning a Givati Brigade force identified a group of gunmen near the security fence separating Israel from Gaza, near Kibbutz Be’eri. more.. e-mail
VIDEO - 3 IDF soldiers killed in Gaza battle
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 4/16/2008
(Video) Givati Brigade suffers three fatalities forces enter Gaza in pursuit of Palestinian terrorists who approached security fence near Kibbutz Be’eri; ’Soldiers only buffer between terror organizations, Israeli citizens,’ says IDF official - VIDEO -Givati Brigade’s Corporal Matan Ovdati (19) from Moshav Patsih in the western Negev, Corporal Menahesh Albinath (20) from the Negev town of Kuseife and Corporal David Papian (21) from Tel Aviv were killed Wednesday morning during intense clashes with a Palestinian terror cell near the security fence in central Gaza. Three other soldiers sustained light to moderate injuries in exchanges of fire that erupted in the area. Corporal Ovdati was promoted to the rank of sergeant posthumously. more.. e-mail
Islamic Jihad fighters fire 13 projectiles at Israeli targets
Ma’an News Agency 4/16/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility on Wednesday for launching 13 homemade projectiles at Israeli towns and communities bordering the Gaza Strip. They said in a statement that a barrage of three projectiles was launched at the town of Sderot, three others at Miftaheim to the east of Khan Younis, and two projectiles at the city of Ashkelon, north of Gaza. The military group said in more than one statement that they also targeted an Israeli residential community near the southern Gaza Strip as well as the town of Kfar Azza town with two projectiles. Israeli media reported that 10 projectiles landed in Israeli territory. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces arrest two activists near Jenin
Ma’an News Agency 4/16/2008
Jenin Ma’an Israeli forces arrested two Palestinian activists affiliated to Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the northern West Bank town of Kafr Ra’i south of Jenin on Wednesday. Eyewitnesses told Ma’an’s reporter that several Israeli military vehicles raided Kafr Ra’i, searching several homes before arresting two activists. Furthermore, Ma’an’s reporter said that Israeli forces raided the town of Qabatia south of Jenin. No injuries have been reported. In the Al-Faris refugee camp in Nablus district in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian was injured as confrontations erupted between Palestinian youths and Israeli troops. [end]
Israeli forces raid Nablus, arrest 8
Ma’an News Agency 4/16/2008
Nablus Ma’an Israeli forces raided the northern West Bank city of Nablus and the nearby Balata refugee camp on Wednesday, arresting eight Palestinians. Palestinian security sources told Ma’an’s reporter that the Israeli forces in several Israeli military vehicles entered Nablus and Balata camp after midnight and stormed several neighborhoods before seizing eight Palestinians. [end]
Fatah’s military wing fire projectile at Sufa crossing
Ma’an News Agency 4/16/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing affiliated to Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility on Tuesday evening for launching a homemade projectile at the Sufa crossing in the southern Gaza Strip. They said in a statement that the shelling was part of their retaliation for Israeli attempts to assassinate the group’s leaders the last of which was Muhammad Hijazi. [end]
Islamic Jihad’s military wing fires 6 projectiles at Sderot
Ma’an News Agency 4/16/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility on Wednesday for launching six homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot in western Negev. The group said in a statement that the mission came in retaliation for Israeli crimes against the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. [end]
VIDEO - Clashes in Gaza
Reuters, The Guardian 4/16/2008
Israeli soldiers and Hamas gunmen killed in fighting during fuel embargo [end]
Hamas operation meticulously planned
Yoav Stern, Ha’aretz 4/17/2008
The Hamas operation yesterday that killed three Israel Defense Forces soldiers in an ambush in the Gaza Strip was meticulously planned and designed to prevent repeated IDF incursions into the Strip, a Hamas spokesman said yesterday. The ambush was set up using two lines, with the front line used to bait IDF soldiers. When the IDF troops approached the front line, the back line then closed in on them and opened fire with rifles and anti-tank missiles, Hamas said. "Our fighters managed to exchange fire with the force from a distance of less than five meters, which increased the casualties and caused confusion," the spokesperson said. The Islamic group’s spokesman said that none of the eight gunmen who took part in the operation - code-named "Killing Field" - were killed. "The Gaza Strip will remain a flaming stone that will crush the sick dreams of the Zionist enemy," the spokesman said. more.. e-mail
War, what war? It’s 8 kilometers away
Fadi Eyadat, Ha’aretz 4/17/2008
"Hello, Erez! How’s it going there? I heard on the news there’s a war," thundered a worried voice from the speaker of Erez Manor’s cellular phone. Manor is director of the La Medavesh ("the pedaler") bicycle center at Kibbutz Be’eri. "What are you talking about? It’s 8 kilometers away from here. It’s in El Bureij [a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip]," Manor said, trying to calm down his caller. "Good. I’ll speak to you. . . I need to hang up," the voice from the phone said. "That was a doctor from [Be’er Sheva’s] Soroka Hospital," Manor said after the call ended. "This weekend we are having a bicycle [competition] from the Southern Workplaces League here. He must have seen the wounded and dead from this morning’s incident. "The telephone call is the best example of the lives of operators of tourism and recreational facilities and other businesses in the communities surrounding the Gaza Strip. more.. e-mail
Barak: Do not lose judgment in times of grief
YNetNews 4/16/2008
Barak: Do not lose judgment in times of grief. Defense minister addresses situation in Gaza, says that while mindful of suffering of Palestinian population Israel’s top priority remains the suffering of its citizens in communities near border. Top IDF officer says initial probe into conduct of Givati force during morning’s clashes indicate casualties were result of ’tactical errors. Ehud Barak addressed the clashes in Gaza during a Labor faction meeting on Wednesday afternoon and said these incidents "remind us that some of our enemies refuse to accept the fact that we are here for good. " We have triumphed over difficult challenges in the past," he said, "this is not a case of ’bang and we’re done. A senior IDF officer from the Southern Command said that the preliminary inquiry into the soldiers’ deaths indicates that the force acted in accordance with regulations but apparently made several tactical errors, which are being studied. more.. e-mail
Palestinian security forces seize two Hamas members, Hamas says
Ma’an News Agency 4/16/2008
Nablus Ma’an Fatah-allied Palestinian security forces seized two Hamas members on Tuesday night, Hamas said. According to a statement released by Hamas, Palestinian security arrested a member of the municipal council of the town of Za’tara, near Bethlehem, named Mahmoud Dhwaib. Another Hamas’ member was seized in the Salfit district in the northern West Bank. [end]
Israeli forces arrest three Palestinians near Jenin
Ma’an News Agency 4/16/2008
Jenin Ma’an Israeli forces arrested three Palestinians from the northern West Bank villages of Ya’bad and Arraba west of Jenin on Wednesday. Local Palestinian sources said that Israeli military vehicles raided both villages overnight and searched several homes before arresting three men in their twenties. [end]
2 killed in Gaza; soldier hurt
Ali Waked, YNetNews 4/16/2008
Gaza strikes continue: Senior Islamic Jihad member killed in IDF attack Tuesday evening, another Palestinian dies in separate strike around midnight. Troops operating in Strip since morning hours, soldier shot by sniper sustains moderate wounds; several Palestinians detained - War on terror in Gaza continues:Palestinian sources in the Strip say that a senior member of Islamic Jihad’s military wing, Abdullah al-Rasin, was killed Tuesday evening and two others were wounded after an IDF aircraft fired at them in the Jabalya refugee camp. The three were walking on the street when they were attacked. The IDF confirmed the strike and said that it was carried out in conjunction with the Shin Bet security service. Around midnight, Palestinian sources reported that one person was killed and several others were injured. . . more.. e-mail
IDF troops raid Ramallah
Ali Waked, YNetNews 4/16/2008
Palestinian sources: Army encircling 10 Hamas members’ homes in West Bank city area. IDF says engaged in routine arrest operation - West Bank operation: Palestinian sources reported Tuesday night that the IDF was encircling 10 Hamas members’ homes in different areas in the West Bank city of Ramallah and in Bituniyah. One of the homes encircled by the troops was reportedly located near the house of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The Palestinians reported of large forces deployed in the area. According to the sources, one of the encircled houses belongs to Hamas lawmaker Dr. Myriam Salah, who is jailed in Israel. Another house belongs to senior Hamas member Omar Hamdan. The IDF said it was engaged in a routine arrest operation. Meanwhile, Palestinian sources in Ramallah reported that IDF soldiers asked PA intelligence forces. . . more.. e-mail
Israeli settlers from Efrat attack Palestinian farmers in southern Bethlehem
Najib Farrag, Palestine News Network 4/15/2008
Bethlehem -- Settlers from Efrat attacked farmers and their families in Bethlehem’s Al Khader yesterday. The Palestinians were working on their lands that are now dangerously close to the Wall as it expands through southern Bethlehem. Efrat, illegal as all Israeli settlements are under international law, is built on the lands of several southern Bethlehem towns. Around noon on Monday the settlers began hurling insults and derogatory remarks. And then came the stones. The Israeli settlers began pelting the farmers with stones in an attempt to drive them off their own lands. President of the Village Council, Mahmoud Zoaharah, said that Israeli soldiers stood by and watched. The farmers refused to leave their own lands and kept working. He said that settlers aim to intimidate Palestinians into leaving, as do soldiers. more.. e-mail
Several injured in shoot-out between PA security forces and escaped fighters
Ma’an News Agency 4/15/2008
Nablus Ma’an Several civilians have been injured in armed clashes in the West Bank city of Nablus between Palestinian security forces and Al-Aqsa Brigades fighters who escaped the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Al-Jnaid prison two weeks ago, witnesses said. Fighting erupted when security forces attempted to seize escapee Umar Akkuba in Nablus’ old city. Several bystanders were wounded in the crossfire. Witnesses added that additional security forces arrived and began to search the old city for the escapee. Twelve fighters, all affiliated with Fatah’s armed wing, fled the prison about two weeks ago. The 12 detainees had turned themselves in to the PA, agreeing to give up violence and serve three months in prison in exchange for amnesty from Israel. more.. e-mail
Palestinian police clash with escaped militants in Nablus chase
The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 4/15/2008
Palestinian police on Tuesday were exchanging gunfire with a group of escaped militants, chasing them through the streets of Nablus in the West Bank. Police are ordering residents to stay indoors. The group of 14 militants escaped from jail by breaking down the doors to their cells 10 days ago. They say they broke out because a promised amnesty from Israel didn’t come through. Four bystanders were seriously wounded in the exchanges of fire on Tuesday, hospital officials said. Palestinian police said they deployed more than 100 officers to catch the fugitives. The escaped militants are members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a violent offshoot of the Fatah movement headed by moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. more.. e-mail
DFLP leader killed in Israeli air strike in Beit Lahia
Ma’an News Agency 4/15/2008
Gaza Ma’an A National Resistance Brigades leader, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) was killed in an Israeli air strike on Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday night. Two bystanders were also injured. Palestinian medical sources identified the victim as 34-year-old Ibrahim Abu ’Ilba. He was targeted by an Israeli missile as he was walking down a street. In a different regard, Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades said that their fighters were involved in armed clashes with Israeli troops east of Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. They said in a statement that Israeli warplanes launched three missiles in the area of the clashes. more.. e-mail
Gaza fighter killed in Israeli raid
Al Jazeera 4/15/2008
A Palestinian fighter in the Gaza Strip has been killed in an Israeli air raid that left another man wounded, police officials said. Police identified both men, who had been riding a motorcycle in the Jabalya refugee camp when they were hit in a missile attack on Tuesday night, as members of Islamic Jihad. Several bystanders were also wounded in the attack. An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed an air raid had taken place but did not immediately provide details. Israel frequently raids Gaza in what its officials say are efforts to stop cross-border rocket fire and other attacks. Hamas seized control of Gaza in June last year, pushing the rival Fatah faction back into the West Bank. Signs of torture - Earlier on Tuesady, Hamas denied being involved in the killing of a Fatah security official whose body was discovered south of Gaza City, a day after he was kidnapped from his home. more.. e-mail
Israel launches Gaza raid
Al Jazeera 4/15/2008
The Israeli army has entered the south of the Gaza Strip and carried out searches accompanied by exchanges of fire and explosions, the AFP news agency reports quoting Palestinian security officials and witnesses. The incursion comes hours after an Israeli missile strike killed a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestinian (DFLP), a group that has claimed responsibility for recent rocket attacks against Israel. About 20 armoured vehicles, accompanied by bulldozers and twohelicopter gunships, early on Tuesday moved 1. 5km inside the Hamas-governed territory near the Kissufim crossing point with Israel. They searched a school and other buildings in El Karara and Wadi al-Salka. Exchanges of fire took place between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians and a number of explosions were reported. more.. e-mail
3 wounded as gunmen, police clash in Nablus
Ali Waked, YNetNews 4/15/2008
Exchanges of fire erupt as PA security force enters West Bank city’s casbah in bid to arrest wanted Fatah man who escaped from jail 10 days ago - Exchanges of fire broke out Tuesday in the West Bank city of Nablus between Palestinian security forces and gunmen who escaped from a Palestinian Authority jail 10 days ago. At least three bystanders were injured in the clashes. The gunmen are members of Fatah’s military wing, the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. A PA force arrived at the casbah of Nablus in order to arrest one of the wanted men, who escaped with the group from the Palestinian jail, where he had been held as part of an amnesty agreement between Israel and the PA first reported by Ynet. Fourteen inmates escaped from the prison on April 4, after complaining about their imprisonment conditions. more.. e-mail
Palestinian intelligence officer found dead in Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 4/15/2008
Gaza Ma’an A member of the Palestinian intelligence services was found dead in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, local sources said. The body of 35-five-year-old Sami Khattab, from the city of Deir Al-Balah, was found near the abandoned Israeli settlement Netzarim. Medics at Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said the body showed signs of torture. Local residents said Khattab had been kidnapped last week. Khattab’s family accused the Palestinian internal security services of murdering him. The family claimed that the security forces arrested Khattab 24 hours before informing him that he was found dead, with his name written on his body. The Interior Ministry of the de facto government in the Gaza Strip said that an investigation has been opened in the case. The Ministry vowed to find and punish those responsible. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces penetrate southern Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 4/15/2008
Gaza Ma’an Israeli forces penetrated the town of Al-Qarara in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning accompanied by bulldozers. Local sources said that clashes erupted in the area between the invading Israeli forces and Palestinian resistance fighters. No casualties have been reported. The invading Israeli forces exceeded the border fence into the Gaza Strip by 1,200 meters. They occupied five Palestinian homes as well as Al-Ma’arry school near Kissufim and stationed themselves there. Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, claimed that their fighters detonated a land mine near an Israeli military vehicle in the area. Earlier, the Al-Qassam Brigades claimed they launched three rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) at Israeli vehicles. more.. e-mail
DFLP and PFLP military groups fire projectiles at Sderot
Ma’an News Agency 4/15/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing affiliated to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), theAbu Ali Mustafa Brigades, and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s military wing, the National Resistance Brigades, claimed responsibility on Tuesday morning for launching two homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot. They said in a joint statement that the shelling came in retaliation for Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and the assassination of National Resistance Brigades’ leader Ibrahim Abu ’Ilba, who was killed in an Israeli air stirke on Monday night. [end]
Mistake prompts Ashkelon siren scare
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 4/15/2008
Local residents rush to protected spaces after rocket alert system mistakenly activated - False alarm:The rocket alert siren was mistakenly activated in the southern city of Ashkelon Tuesday afternoon, prompting residents to rush to take cover. The siren could be heard across Ashkelon around 4 pm, but a short time later it turned out that no rockets were fired at the city. The latest incident does not mark the first time that the siren in Ashkelon goes off by mistake. A month ago, a similar incident took place, prompting thousands of concerned residents to contact police. In another incident about two weeks ago, many deaf residents of the city were under the impression that Israel was facing a rocket offensive, after the special beepers they received from the IDF Home Front Command informed them of incoming rockets. more.. e-mail
IAF strike kills DFLP militant in northern Gaza
The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 4/15/2008
An Israeli aircraft hit a vehicle in a missile strike in northern Gaza late Monday, killing a person getting out of the car, witnesses and health officials said. The witnesses said the man was apparently the target of the Israeli strike. He was identified as Ibrahim Abu Olba, 42, from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Palestinian Health Ministry said he died of his wounds in a Gaza hospital. Three bystanders were also hurt, he said. The DFLP has claimed responsibility for some of the recent rocket attacks on Israel. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that it carried out the strike targeting Abu Olba, who it said had been involved in a string of attacks against Israel and was planning more. Israel often targets suspected militants with airstrikes, often targeting rocket squads or their commanders. more.. e-mail
Palestinian security forces arrest 21 Hamas supporters in the West Bank, Hamas says
Ma’an News Agency 4/14/2008
Nablus Ma’an The Hamas movement claimed that Fatah-allied Palestinian security forces seized 21 Hamas supporters in the West Bank on Monday. Twelve of the arrestees were from Bethlehem. The rest where from Jenin, Qalqilia, Salfit, Tulkarem and Hebron, Hamas said. [end]
Senior Al-Aqsa Brigades leader survives assassination attempt in Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 4/14/2008
Gaza Ma’an An Israeli reconnaissance plane bombed the home of Khalid Hijazi, a senior leader in the armed wing of Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City on Sunday evening, injuring seven bystanders. Hijazi himself survived the assassination attempt. Muawiyah Hassanain, the director of ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian Health Ministry said that seven injured Palestinians arrived at Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City after the attack. Witnesses said the Israeli reconnaissance plane fired a missile at the third story of the house, causing massive material damage. [end]
PFLP’s military wing fire projectile at Kerem Shalom crossing
Ma’an News Agency 4/14/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, claimed responsibility on Monday for firing a homemade projectile at the Gaza Strip’s Kerem Shalom crossing point. They said in a statement that the shelling came in retaliation for ongoing Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. [end]
Islamic Jihad fighters ’clash’ with Israeli soldiers in Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 4/14/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility on Monday for fighting with Israeli troops in the Juhor Ad-Dik area, near Al-Bureij Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip. The Al-Quds Brigades said that they detonated an anti-personnel landmine during the battle. [end]
Israeli forces seize three Palestinians in Tulkarem
Ma’an News Agency 4/14/2008
Tulkarem Ma’an Israeli forces seized three Palestinians in the West Bank city of Tulkarem after house-to-house searches on Monday, witnesses said. One of the detainees was affiliated to Islamic Jihad and another to Hamas. The affiliation of the third could not be ascertained. [end]
Abu Zuhri: Attempt on Muhaissen’s life due to his crimes against the resistance
Palestinian Information Center 4/14/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, stated Sunday that the attempt to assassinate Jamal Muhaissen, the governor of Nablus, in the city, northern West Bank, is a natural result of his crimes against the Palestinian resistance. In a press statement received by the PIC, Dr. Abu Zuhri underlined that Muhaissen is notorious for his track record of working against the Palestinian resistance fighters either through arrests, weapon confiscations or collaborating with the Israeli occupation against them. "We have warned many times that the crimes of the PA in Ramallah would only be counterproductive and the resistance in the Wes Bank would not yield to the crimes committed against it," the spokesman said. Palestinian eyewitnesses reported that unknown Palestinian fighters attacked amid gunfire at noon Sunday the convoy of Muhaissen in the Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus,. . . more.. e-mail
Palestinians: IAF killed gunman in Beit Lahiya
Ali Waked and AP, YNetNews 4/15/2008
Sources say Israeli aircraft opened fire at DFLP commander while he was riding his bicycle in Beit Lahiya -An Israeli missile strike in northern Gaza killed a senior member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine late Monday, witnesses and health officials said. Ibrahim Abu Olba, 42, commander of the DFLP’s armed branch, was fired at by Israeli aircraft while riding his bicycle in Beit Lahiya, said Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Palestinian Health Ministry said, adding that three bystanders were hurt. The DFLP has claimed responsibility for some of the recent rocket attacks on Israel. The Israeli military confirmed that it carried out the strike targeting Abu Olba, who it said had been involved in a string of attacks against Israel and was planning more. Seven Palestinians were wounded Sunday night during an Israeli. . . more.. e-mail
7 hurt as IAF hits Gaza home of militant behind Nahal Oz attack
Avi Issacharoff and Yuval Azoulay, and Reuters, Ha’aretz 4/14/2008
Seven Palestinians were wounded Sunday evening in an Israel Air Force strike that partially destroyed the house of a senior militant in the Gaza Strip, local militant group said. The house belonged to Abu Haled Shigazi, of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, who was allegedly behind a recent cross-border raid which left two Israeli civilians dead at a fuel depot in Nahal Oz, near the Gaza border. Witnesses said Shigazi managed to escape without injury. One of the casualties in the attack was seriously hurt and the others were sustained light to moderate wounds. Earlier Sunday, at least three Hamas militants were killed and four wounded in an explosion in the Gaza Strip, the militant group and Palestinian medical workers said. A source in the defense establishment said the incident was due to an internal Palestinian affair. more.. e-mail
Top IDF officer narrowly escapes Gaza mortar barrage
Yuval Azoulay, Avi Issacharoff and Mijal Grinberg, Ha’aretz 4/13/2008
The Israel Defense Forces’ top officer in the south on Sunday narrowly escaped being hit by a salvo of mortar shells fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza. Mortars landed only meters away from GOC Southern Command Yoav Galant, who was on a tour of Sderot and kibbutz Nir Oz. The mortar strike caused neither casualties nor property damage. Galant was accompanied on the tour by Haim Yalin, the head of Eshkol Regional Council. Yalin told Haaretz that, "during the tour a salvo of three mortar shells was fired, which struck 20 meters away from us. " Yalim said the group came to the site in order to coordinate military activities in the agricultural areas of Kibbutzim Ein Hashlosha, Nir Oz and Nirim, all of which border on the Gaza Strip. more.. e-mail
Hamas fighters claim responsibility for shelling senior Israeli military officer’s patrol
Ma’an News Agency 4/13/2008
Bethlehem Ma’an Palestinian fighters fired mortar shells at a group of senior Israeli military officials who were touring Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip on Sunday, Palestinian and Israeli sources said. Israeli media reported that three mortar shells landed near the entourage of Israeli Southern Command Chief Yoav Galant and other officers. One shell reportedly landed less than 20 meters away from Galant and his group. The touring officials took cover in portable shelters. No injuries were reported. Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for firing five mortar shells at Israeli vehicles stationed east of the city of Khan Younis. The Al-Qassam Brigades said the shelling was a response to "ugly Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians people and the crippling siege imposed on the Gaza Strip. " more.. e-mail
Israeli forces invade Jenin, raid Palestinian houses
Ma’an News Agency 4/13/2008
Jenin Ma’an Israeli forces invaded the northern West Bank city of Jenin, neighboring Jenin refugee camp, and two nearby villages on Sunday morning, witnesses said. Israeli troops ransacked home of Afif Jalilin Jenin refugee camp, looking for his son Zakariyya, who is wanted by the Israeli intelligence services. The soldiers forced the Jalil family and their neighbors into the street while Israeli troops searched their homes interrogated them. Other witnesses said that Israeli troops stormed the villages of Zububa and Rummana, conducting house-to-house searches. Separately, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, said their fighters fired at an Israeli patrol that was setting up a checkpoint at the entrance of the village of Misliya, near Jenin. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces lay siege to West Bank village
Ma’an News Agency 4/13/2008
Nablus - Ma’an - Israeli forces sealed all entrances to the West Bank village of Beita, south of the city of Nablus, with massive piles of dirt and rocks on Sunday night, witnesses said. Residents of the village told Ma’an that Israeli soldiers are imprisoning residents inside the village. Israeli soldiers are keeping watch at all the roads and dirt tracks out of the village, ensuring that no one leaves. Hours before the closure, an Israeli settler’s car came under fire on a road near Beita. [end]
Israeli forces raid Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 4/13/2008
Nablus - Ma’an - More than 16 Israeli military vehicles raided areas around the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Saturday evening, witnesses said. Witnesses also reported seeing Israeli undercover forces in a Palestinian-plated car in Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus. Israeli troops stationed themselves in several areas in Balata and in the city of Nablus. Palestinian security sources say Israel is expected to launch a large-scale incursion into Nablus soon. [end]
Israeli settlers invade Palestinians’ fields near Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 4/13/2008
Nablus Ma’an Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians in fields near the village of Tal, west of the West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday, witnesses said. Umar Shtayya, the chair of the village’s local council, said that more than 40 heavily-armed settlers from the Gilad colony invaded the fields, firing in the air and throwing stones at passersby. Settlers from Gilad also attacked Palestinians’ fields last week, uprooting their trees, Shtayya said. [end]
Israeli forces seize two Palestinians near Ramallah
Ma’an News Agency 4/13/2008
Bethlehem - Ma’an - Israeli forces on Sunday seized two Palestinians from Al-Jalazun refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Israeli sources said. The two Palestinians were taken to interrogation centers. [end]
Gaza: 7 injured in IDF strike
Ali Waked, YNetNews 4/13/2008
Palestinian sources say senior al-Aqsa Brigades commander escapes missile attack on his home; at least two Hamas gunmen killed in apparent ’work accident’ - Seven Palestinians were injured Sunday evening during two successive Israeli Air Force strikes that targeted the Gaza home of Abu Haled Shigazi, one the commanders of Fatah’s armed wing, the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. The IDF confirmed launching an attack on a target in the northern Strip. The Palestinians said Shigazi and a senior Islamic Jihad member who was visiting him escaped the missile attack on the home unharmed. Three of those injured in the attack were reportedly in moderate to serious condition. Despite the ongoing strife with Hamas, the al-Aqsa Brigades is occasionally involved in the launching of mortars and rockets toward Israel, and its gunmen have placed explosive devices. . . more.. e-mail
Israeli forces invade northern Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 4/13/2008
Gaza Ma’an Israeli tanks, jeeps, and bulldozers entered the northern Gaza Strip town of Jabalia on Sunday morning amid heavy gunfire, witnesses said. Sources on the ground in Jabalia said Israeli ground forces, with helicopters overhead, had crossed at least 500 meters past the border wall into the Gaza Strip. This is an ongoing incursion. [end]
Israeli forces and armed resistance fight in Gaza, several injuries
Palestine News Network 4/13/2008
Gaza / PNN - Palestinian eyewitnesses report that the Israeli army launched a morning attack on the town of Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip, just hours after Israeli incursions in the east of the town. According to medical sources there are of a number of wounded. The Palestinian armed factions claimed responsibility for firing on Sunday morning at a number of towns and Israeli military sites adjacent to the Gaza Strip. The Al Aqsa Brigades, armed resistance wing affiliated with Fateh, claimed responsibility for launching two projectiles at Sderot. Others in the group fought with Israeli forces east of Beit Hanoun, further north in the Strip. In the same context, the leftist Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed resistance wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, claimed responsibility for launching two projectiles at Sderot and the western Negev. more.. e-mail
Israeli police attempting to remove settlement outpost near Bethlehem
Ma’an News Agency 4/13/2008
Bethlehem Ma’an Israeli police have been attempting to remove a settler’s hut build illegally on land belonging to the West Bank town of Al-Khadr, south of the city of Bethlehem, on Sunday. Dozens of Israeli settlers converged around the hut, attempting to block a planned demolition, Israeli sources reported. Israeli authorities ordered the structure destroyed because they feared that Palestinian fighters could use it as a hiding place or a position from which to fire on other settlements in the massive Etzion Bloc near Bethlehem. [end]
Palestinian military groups engage Israeli forces in Gaza, fire projectiles
Ma’an News Agency 4/13/2008
Gaza - Ma’an - The military wing of Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Brigades said on Saturday evening that their fighters clashed with an undercover Israeli force that infliltrated Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. They explained in a statement that an undercover Israeli force was discovered after it entered the Al-Farta area, east of Beit Hanoun. Separately the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, claimed responsibility on Sunday morning for firing two homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot, bordering Beit Hanoun. [end]
Palestinian governor of Nablus attacked on visit to Balata camp
The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 4/13/2008
Witnesses and security officers say the Palestinian governor of the Nablus region got a hot welcome when he visited a refugee camp next to the city. They say Palestinians opened fire on the official’s car, wounding four people. The governor, whose name is Jamal Muhaisen, ran into a house in the Balata camp to take cover. Palestinian police whisked him out of the camp, but not before residents of the camp set his car on fire. After the incident Sunday, Palestinian security officers could not say who the attackers were. The Balata camp is known as a stronghold of the Islamic Hamas, and the governor is from Fatah, led by moderate President Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas overran the Gaza Strip last summer, leaving Fatah in power in the West Bank. more.. e-mail
What’s up, Doc? Carrot crops grow costly in face of Gaza fire
Fadi Eyadat and Mijal Grinberg, Ha’aretz 4/14/2008
Farmers at the kibbutzim Nir Oz and Ein Hashlosha in the western Negev are considering changing the type of crops they grow near the border with the Gaza Strip because the carrots, potatoes, peanuts and wheat already there require a lot of work - and that means sending soldiers and tanks to guard the workers from cross-border attacks, adding an element of risk and cost that kibbutz officials think may no longer be worthwhile. "Working near the fence costs a lot more money," said Moshe David, who is in charge of the produce grown at Nir Oz. "Going out into the field is an entire operation every time. It’s soldiers and tanks for security. It’s more personnel. When I take workers out to the field, I bring out an additional tractor with them to protect the workers from gunfire, it’s flak jackets and helmets for the workers, it’s added danger. more.. e-mail
Three Palestinians killed in explosion in Jabalia refugee camp
Ma’an News Agency 4/13/2008
Gaza Ma’an Three Palestinians were killed and two others injured on Sunday in an explosion in Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Sources in the Interior Ministry of the Hamas-led de facto government said the explosion was "internal," and not related to any fighting. Ma’an learned that the explosion was at home of Hamas fighter Hasan Al-Mutawwaq who was assassinated by Israeli forces. Director of the Kamal Udwan Hospital, Bassam Abu Warda, said that at least two of the men suffered severe burns. The two injured Palestinians were also treated at Kamal Udwan. Hamas identified one of the victims as 15-year-old Hussain Al-Mutawwaq. ***Updated at 15:41 Bethlehem time more.. e-mail
Israeli forces withdraw from Gaza, leaving 9 dead
Ma’an News Agency 4/12/2008
Gaza - Ma’an - Israeli forces withdrew from the central Gaza Strip at dawn on Saturday leaving nine dead and dozens injured in the previous 24 hours. They stormed the eastern side of Al- Bureij refugee on Friday morning, killing seven and causing severe damage to Palestinian homes and bulldozing Palestinian agricultural lands. Two members of Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades, 31 year-old Muhamad Mustafa An-Najjar and 26 year-old Mahmoud An-Najjar were killed in were killed on Friday morning during an Israeli airstrike on a bunker belonging to the Brigades in the town of Khuza’a in the southern Gaza Strip. Seven other people were killed in attacks on the Al-Bureij refugee camp. Another Al-Qassam Brigades fighter, 24-year-old Munther Abu Hweishel, was killed in an Israeli attack targeting Palestinian resistance fighters in Al-Bureij refugee camp. more.. e-mail
Israeli authorities order demolition of 3 shops near separation wall
Ma’an News Agency 4/12/2008
Tulkarem Ma’an - The Israeli authorities ordered three shop ownersfrom Nazlat Issa village north of Tulkarem in the northern West Bank to demolish their shops saying they were built without licenses and they are too close to the separation wall. A member of the village council said the demolition orders were handed tobrothers Abdul Rahim Mohammed Yusuf Shawareb who owns nine commercial shops, Abdullah Mohammed Yusuf Shawareb who owns five shops, as well as Awni Mohammed Abdullah Hussein. He said that the orders constitute systematic plans by the Israeli authorities to confiscate Palestinian lands and expand Israeli settlements. [end]
9 Palestinians killed in weekend fighting
Avi Issacharoff and Yuval Azoulay, Ha’aretz 4/13/2008
Nine Palestinians, including two young teens, were killed and more than 20 were injured as a result of weekend Israel Defense Forces operations in the Gaza Strip. Seven of the deaths occurred on Friday in the vicinity of the Bureij refugee camp, in the central strip. The dead were named as Munzar Abu Hawishal, a Hamas activist; Shihab Abu Zbeid, 17; Jihad Abu Zbeid, 19; Yusuf al-Ma’ari, 17; Abd al-Razq Nufal, 19; Riad al-Aweni, 12; and Yusuf Sirhan,13. In a separate incident in Khan Yunis on Friday, Hamas activists Mohammed al-Najar and Ayman al-Najar were killed. There were no Israeli injuries in the fighting, which IDF sources said was aimed at crippling the terror infrastructure and preventing the firing of missiles into Israel, as well as keeping Palestinian snipers away from the border area. The IDF troops operating near Bureij encountered heavy fire from militants using anti-tank missiles, mortar shells, RPGs and guns. more.. e-mail
16 Palestinians Dead as Israel Vows to ’Settle the Score’ with Hamas [April 6 12]
MIFTAH, MIFTAH 4/12/2008
Israeli forces withdrew from the Gaza Strip on April 12 after a three day strike which reportedly killed 16 Palestinians and wounded nearly 40. The assault on the Gaza Strip was in response to the shooting of Israeli civilians Oleg Lipson [37] and Lev Cherniak [53] on April 9 by Palestinian activists. Islamic Jihad, who claimed responsibility for this attack along with the Popular Resistance Committee, stated that the unique and complicated operation was aimed at kidnapping Israeli soldiers. The infiltration into Israeli territory came only hours after a Hamas activist and an Israeli soldier had been killed during clashes in Khan Younis. Early in the morning of April 9, four Palestinian gunmen managed to breach the border with Israel near the Nahal Oz terminal - the only place where restricted amounts of fuel supplies are transported to the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials state that under the cover of mortar fire, the assailants killed the two Beer Sheva residents in a failed abduction attempt. more.. e-mail
Palestinian farmer: Settlers assaulted me
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 4/12/2008
Palestinian man says more than 25 settlers threw stones at him, told him to ’go away’ - A 61-year old Palestinian farmer filed a complaint Saturday at a West Bank police station, claiming that settlers threw stones at him and his wife. The police launched an investigation into the incident. The Palestinian, Sadik al-Bari told police that around 10 am Saturday, while he was working with his wife in the field, the two were hit by stones that were thrown at them by settlers. Bari sustained light face wounds while his wife suffered shoulder injuries. Injured farmer - police launch investigation Bari said the stones were hurled by settlers living in the Shvut Ami settlement. "I was in my field when suddenly more than 25 people arrived and began to throw stones. They cried ’go away. ’ Where can I go? I was doing nothing wrong, simply working my land. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces invade Zbuta village
Ma’an News Agency 4/12/2008
Jenin - Ma’an - Israeli forces invaded Zbuta village northwest of the West Bank city of Jenin in the early hours of Saturday, breaking into a number of houses before withdrawing in the early morning hours without any arrests. According to local sources in the village, a number of military vehicles stormed the village at 1:30 am and launched an extensive operation of raids and inspections in many houses in several parts of the village. The Israeli forces focused on houses and an agricultural area near the separation wall. They fired bullets and sound bombs during their raid. [end]
Israeli army invade eastern Gaza City
Ma’an News Agency 4/12/2008
Gaza Ma’an - A number of Israeli army vehicles stormed the Al-Shaja’iyah neighborhood in eastern Gaza City on Saturday afternoon, Palestinian sources reported. Eyewitnesses told Ma’an that four Israeli military vehicles and two bulldozers stormed the separation wall east of Al-Shaja’iyah, opening fire on a number of houses. Israeli bulldozers also began to demolish the agricultural lands in the area east of Al-Shaja’iyah. [end]
Abu Ali Mustafa brigades attack Kfar ’Azza and Negev
Ma’an News Agency 4/12/2008
Gaza - Ma’an - The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Abu Ali Mustafa brigades, claimed responsibility on Saturday for launching two projectiles at the Israeli town of Kfar Azza and at the Negev. They sent a statement to Ma’an saying the operation was in response to the continuing Israeli policy of detention, adding they would continue to resist the occupation. [end]
2 Qassam rockets land in Sderot area
Ze'ev Trachtman, YNetNews 4/12/2008
’Color Red’ alert activated in southern town, one rocket lands near cemetery. Woman suffers from anxiety - Saturday night attack : Two Qassams landed in open areas in the Sderot area Saturday night, shortly after the "Color Red" alert system was activated in the rocket-battered southern town. One rocket landed near a cemetery in the area while the second one landed in a nearby agricultural zone. One woman suffered from anxiety in the wake of the attack. Last week, a few hours after the deadly terror attack at the Nahal Oz fuel terminal, terrorists fired two Qassam rockets at southern communities. Terror groups in the Gaza Strip continue to stockpile rockets and mortar shells, including some armaments made in Iran. Islamic Jihad is producing rockets that have a range of 20 kilometers (roughly 13 miles) and are equipped with a warhead that is. . . more.. e-mail
Nahal Oz attack: Commander slams troops’ conduct
Yossi Yehoshua, YNetNews 4/12/2008
Gaza Division commander’s inquiry uncovers flaws in army’s response to terror attack - Gaza Division commander Moshe Tamir ordered an inquiry into the Nahal Oz terror attack that found failures in the conduct of troops deployed in Gaza’s northern sector. The inquiry uncovered, among other things, flaws in securing the area where the fuel terminal targeted in the attack is located. Additional flaws were discovered in the army’s initial response to the incident and in the pursuit for the terrorists following the attack. Tamir reportedly reprimanded the commanders involved in the incident, and further steps may be taken against them following another inquiry into the attack slated to be held next week by Southern Command Chief Yoav Galant. more.. e-mail
8 dead, including 4 children, 28 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 4/11/2008
Gaza Ma’an Eight Palestinians have been killed since Friday morning, the majority of them children, and 28 people injured in ongoing Israeli bombardments and airstrikes on homes, belonging to both civilians and resistance fighters, in the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Four children were killed and a number of people were wounded in an airstrike on civilian houses. Palestinian medical sources told Ma’an that the four dead children were taken to the Al-Aqsa Hospital. Six civilians were also injured when Israeli tanks shelled civilian houses in the Al-Bureij refugee camp. The sources also said that 12-year-old Riyadh Awisi died of injuries he sustained during clashes that took place east of the Bureij refugee camp. Five other civilians were also wounded. Two resistance fighters from the Al-Qassam Brigades, Muhammad An-Najar and Amin An-Najar,. . . more.. e-mail
Beita village under Israeli closure after Israeli bus attack
Ma’an News Agency 4/11/2008
Nablus Ma’an - Israeli forces imposed a total closure on the village of Beita south of Nablus since the early hours of Friday morning after an Israeli vehicle was shot at on Thursday. Eyewitnesses told Ma’an’s Nablus correspondent that Israeli military bulldozers have closed the main entrance to the village with dirt mounds and erected a number of military checkpoints in the area around the village. Witnesses added that Israeli troops attacked Palestinian vehicles that tried to bypass the checkpoint by using other roads out of the village. People trying to do so were detained. This Israeli radio reported this morning that an Israeli bus was shot at by Palestinian gunmen at a crossroads near Beita. No one was injured. more.. e-mail
Torch of armed resistance rekindles in W. Bank
Palestinian Information Center 4/11/2008
Tulkarem/NABLUS, [pic]-- The torch of the armed Palestinian resistance in the West Bank has apparently rekindles after the Israeli occupation army confirmed on Friday that the frequency of Palestinian armed attacks against Israeli soldiers and settlers increased rapidly over the past few days. According to records of the Israeli occupation army, two Palestinian armed attacks against Israeli soldiers took place in Tulkarem and Nablus cities in which the Palestinian attackers used machineguns, bombs, and Molotov bombs. In addition, the Israeli occupation army acknowledged that two Israeli settlers’ buses were attacked with bullets and Molotov bombs near Nablus city. An Israeli military spokesman alleged that none of the soldiers or of the Israeli settlers was harmed in the two attacks, adding that large numbers of IOF troops were dispatched to the two accident scenes in search of the Palestinian assailants. more.. e-mail
Two Al-Qassam activists killed; number of casualties in Israeli raid on Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 4/11/2008
Gaza Ma’an - Two members of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, were killed and a number of people were wounded in a series of attacks targeting Palestinian resistance fighters east of Al-Khaza’a in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday. Medical sources said that Al-Qassam Brigades affiliates Mohammed Mustafa Najjar and Amin Najjar were killed in an Israeli air raid out by east of Al-Khaza’a. A number of other people were injured in the attack and were taken to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Two days ago Israeli forces stormed Al-Khaza’a and an Israeli soldier was killed during the incursion. On Friday morning, Palestinian sources reported an Israeli incursion east of Al- Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip during which bulldozers razed agricultural land in the region. The sources told Ma’an that since dawn on Friday a number of clashes had occurred. . . more.. e-mail
Two raids in East Jerusalem, 17 year old taken from his home
Palestine News Network 4/11/2008
Jerusalem / PNN -- A large number of Israeli army and border guards, accompanied by Israeli intelligence officer, raided the neighborhood of Eizariya in East Jerusalem. The broke into the home of a 50 year old man and arrested his teenaged child. Walid Ibrahim Seratan’s son, 17 year old Ahmed, is now in an undisclosed location, arrested for a reason unknown. The family reports feeling "terrorized" by the actions of the Israeli military inside their home, which includes children younger than Ahmed. In other East Jerusalem raids in the Eizariya neighborhood, Israeli forces broke into the home of 57 year old Ahmed Mohammad Aermin. They forced family member Ala’ Aermin outside for interrogation along with his father. more.. e-mail
Israeli tanks cross into Gaza
Agence France-Presse, ReliefWeb 4/11/2008
GAZA CITY, April 11, 2008 (AFP) -Several Israeli tanks and bulldozers crossed into the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Friday and engaged in a gunbattle with militants, Palestinian security sources and the military said. Ten tanks and two bulldozers entered one kilometre (0. 6 miles) into Gaza, west of the Bureij refugee camp, drawing heavy fire from Palestinian militants, the sources said. An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed forces were operating in Gaza and had come under gun and mortar fire. The incursion comes after two Hamas militants were killed in an Israeli air strike in southern Gaza late on Thursday, and two days after militants carried out a cross-border raid where two Israelis were killed. more.. e-mail
Gaza sniper fires at Israeli farmers; no injuries
Yonat Atlas, YNetNews 4/11/2008
Farmers shot at while working in fields of Kibbutz Nir Oz for second time this month; bullet hits tractor - A Palestinian sniper in Gaza opened fire Friday at Israeli farmers who were cultivating lands belonging to Kibbutz Nir Oz. No injuries were reported but a tractor was damaged. The incident marks the second time this month that a Palestinian sniper targeted the Nir Oz farmers, who use armored tractors for protection. Uri Dan, head of security at the western Negev kibbutz, said that during today’s incident the single 0. 5 millimeter bullet that was fired in the farmers’ direction hit a tractor’s bullet-proof glass shield. [end]
Israeli forces storm Silwad; seize Palestinian
Ma’an News Agency 4/11/2008
Jerusalem Ma’an - Israeli forces seized a Palestinian from the town of Silwad north-east of Jerusalem in the early hours of Friday. Local sources said that several Israeli military vehicles entered the town at 1:30am and arrested 23-year-old Amr Ahmed Hamid after raiding his house and destroying its contents. He was transferred to an unknown destination. The sources said that the Israeli forces had searched several houses in the area. The same sources said that the army handed over a number of citizens to the Israeli intelligence. [end]
Al-Quds Brigades launch RPG at Israeli tank
Ma’an News Agency 4/11/2008
Gaza Ma’an - The Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for launching a rocket propelled grenade at an Israeli tank east of Al-Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip on Friday. The brigades confirmed that one of their members targeted an Israeli tank. They said their operation comes in the framework of responding to the continuing aggression against the Palestinian people and in response to the ongoing persecution. [end]
Israeli forces come under attack in West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 4/11/2008
Bethlehem Ma’an - An Israeli force was attacked with explosive devices in the city of Tulkarem in the northern West Bank on Friday at dawn. There are no reports of any injuries. Israeli sources also said that Palestinian resistance fighters threw a number of bombs and inflammable bottles at the Israeli force that was on a "security activity" in Jenin in the northern West Bank. No injuries were reported. [end]
Israel kills six Palestinians, including 10-year-old
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 4/12/2008
Jewish state sends tanks, armored bulldozers into gaza in bid to push militants back from border -- A 10-year-old boy was among six Palestinians killed Friday when Israeli tanks and helicopters opened fire inside the Gaza Strip after Israel vowed to retaliate for a border attack. Before the operation was launched in central Gaza, two Hamas militants were killed in an air strike. At least 25 more Palestinians were wounded in Friday’s incursion, including three children who suffered severe wounds, medics said. Riyad Owayssi, 10, stood with dozens of children near the tanks, outside the Bureij refugee camp, when he was fatally hit, medics said. Four other Palestinians were killed, including three teenagers who were in a house which was hit by Israeli fire. Militants had targeted the troops from outside the house but fled before the Israelis opened fire, witnesses said. Israeli tanks and armored bulldozers, backed by assault helicopters, entered 1 kilometer into central Gaza early Friday morning, drawing heavy fire from militants. more.. e-mail
Thousands attend N Gaza funeral for armed resistance member
Palestine News Network 4/11/2008
Gaza / PNN- Thousands of people walked in the funeral procession of just one of the seven Palestinians killed on Wednesday in the Gaza Strip during resistance fighting and Israeli attacks on civilians. The march, described as "solemn," began at the mosque in the northern Strip’s Jabaliya Refugee Camp mosque. The body of Ahmed Abu Nasser was carried on a stretcher, held by family and friends. Among the thousands of mourners were those of the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed resistance wing of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, to which Abu Nasser belonged. The procession headed to the cemetery in Beit Lahia, further north in the Gaza Strip. At a point the quiet of the crowd broke out into shouts of grief and anger. Several of those walking held banners against the practices of occupation, calling for an end to the siege and attacks, all the while supporting the legal right to armed resistance. more.. e-mail
Israeli strikes kill 2 Hamas gunmen in Gaza
Reuters, YNetNews 4/11/2008
IDF says carried out air strike targeting terrorists in Hamas-controlled territory. Palestinian medical workers say seven other gunmen wounded in two air strikes outside southern Gaza city of Khan Younis - Israeli air strikes killed at least two Hamas gunmen in the Gaza Strip on Friday, Hamas and medical workers said. An Israeli army spokeswoman said the IDF had carried out an air strike targeting gunmen in the Hamas-controlled territory. Palestinian medical workers said seven other gunmen were wounded in two air strikes outside the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis near the border fence with Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday vowed Israel would strike Hamas after Gaza militants killed two Israeli civilians at a border terminal with Israel. Hamas Islamists seized Gaza after routing forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah in June. more.. e-mail
Palestinian resistance fighters demonstrate exemplary heroism in blocking IOF
Palestinian Information Center 4/11/2008
GAZA, [PIC]-- Fighters of the Palestinian resistance factions were reportedly blocking the invading IOF troops with exemplary heroism, and that they destroyed number IOF military vehicles in Al-Buraij refugee camp, in central Gaza Strip Friday. Palestinian local sources revealed that IOF Special Forces backed with tanks and choppers adventured in to the refugee camp and occupied a number of Palestinian homes before turning them as barracks and hideout for Israeli snipers. At least two Palestinian citizens were reportedly wounded after Israeli tanks unleashed their projectiles at a number of Palestinian homes in the area. PIC correspondent in the area asserted that Palestinian resistance fighters led by the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas Movement, fired tens of the locally-made mortar shells at IOF tanks and positions inflicting damage on a number of them. more.. e-mail
Boy, three others killed in Israeli raid in Gaza
Middle East Online 4/11/2008
A 10-year-old boy was among four Palestinians killed on Friday when Israeli tanks and helicopters opened fire inside the Gaza Strip after Israel vowed to retaliate for a border attack. A further 25 Palestinians were wounded, including three children who suffered severe wounds, medics said. Riyad Owayssi, 10, stood with dozens of children near the tanks, outside the Bureij refugee camp, when he was fatally hit, medics said, while three other civilians were killed when a house was hit by tank and helicopter fire. Minutes earlier, militants had targeted the Israeli force from outside the house, but managed to get away before the building came under fire, witnesses said. Ten tanks and two armoured bulldozers, backed by two assault helicopters, entered one kilometre (0. 6 mile) into Gaza early Friday morning, drawing heavy fire from militants, medics said. more.. e-mail
Report: IDF fire in gaza kills 8
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 4/11/2008
Palestinians report death toll in IDF operation in northern Gaza Strip up to eight, including one boy, three teens; 28 wounded. IDF says gunmen using civilians as shields - The Palestinian News Agency Maan reported Friday that eight people were killed and 28 others wounded in a clash between IDF forces and Palestinian gunmen in the northern Gaza Strip. According to medical sources in the Strip, a 12-year old boy and three youths, ages 17 to 19, were among the dead. The IDF said it was looking into the allegations, adding that in several cases during the day, Palestinian gunmen were firing at IDF soldiers while using civilian crowds, including children, as shields. The IDF further reported an anti-tank missile was fired on the troops. No casualties were reported among IDF soldiers. more.. e-mail
VIDEO - IDF hits cell responsible for Nahal Oz Attack
YNetNews 4/11/2008
The Israeli Air Force launched several strikes on the Gaza Strip following Wednesday’s attack on the Nahal Oz fuel terminal, which left two Israelis dead. Ynet has secured footage of one of the strikes, which targeted two of the terrorist who were involved in the deadly assault. (04. 11. 08) Video: Footage courtesy of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit Author: Hanan Greenberg [end]
Terror cell planned to poison diners at Ramat Gan restaurant
Yuval Azoulay and Jonathan Lis, Ha’aretz 4/11/2008
Two Palestinians have been arrested only days before they executed a plan to poison diners at the Ramat Gan restaurant in which they worked. A tip-off led the Shin Bet security service and Tel Aviv police to the pair of Nablus residents, who were staying in Israel illegally and working at Ramat Gan’s Grill Express. A gag order on the case, imposed after the 21-year-old Palestinians were arrested some three weeks ago, was lifted yesterday. Under interrogation, the pair admitted planning the attack after being recruited by an Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade cell that received funding and instructions from Hezbollah. The cell was led by two wanted militants, Hani Kabi and Husni Tsalag. The Nablus pair were slated to receive a white, flavorless, odorless poison from Kabi and Tsalag. They planned to put the poison in meals served at the Grill Express. more.. e-mail
Death toll in Israeli raids on Gaza rises to 7
Ma’an News Agency 4/10/2008
Gaza Ma’an Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip left seven people dead, including three children on Wednesday. Israeli warplanes and tanks launched a series of attacks on the northern and the eastern Gaza Strip, Ma’an’s reporter said. Dr Jum’a As-Saqa, head of public relations at Ash-Shifaa’ Hospital in Gaza City said that two dead bodies arrived at Ash-Shifaa’ hospital. He identified them as ’Aatif Al-Gharably and Mazin Abu Qumbuz from the Shuja’iyya neighborhood of Gaza City. Another man from Shuja’iyya Muhammad Abu Jabah was killed after Israeli soldiers opened fire on him in his gas station. Dr As-Saqa added that another Gazan citizen was killed in the Al-Mansoura neighborhood in the central Gaza Strip when he was hit by a missile fired by Israeli warplanes. The victim has not been identified. more.. e-mail
Security forces uncover large explosives cache in Qalqilyah
Yuval Azoulay, Ha’aretz 4/10/2008
Security forces on Thursday arrested two Hamas militants in the West Bank town of Qalqilyah after uncovering a large weapons cache in the city. Shin Bet and Israel Defense Forces troops involved in the raid said they suspects were responsible for hording the secret cache. The operation was executed following an intelligence tip-off from the Shin Bet. During the raid, forces uncovered two barrels, one containing 100 kilograms of gun powder and the other 100 kilograms of fertilizer to be used for preparing explosives. Beside the barrels, forces found electrical switches and wires for rigging chargers and explosive sprays used for intensifying the power of the chargers. Related articles: more.. e-mail
Palestinian security arrests 7 Hamas members
Ma’an News Agency 4/10/2008
Nablus Ma’an Hamas said on Thursday that the Palestinian security services affiliated to the Ramallah-based caretaker government in the West Bank seized seven Hamas affiliates on Wednesday evening. According to a Hamas statement, the arrestees were from Hebron in the southern West Bank and Tulkarem and Tubas in the northern West Bank. [end]
IDF inquiry into Nahal Oz raid highlights failures
Amos Harel and Yuval Azoulay, Ha’aretz 4/11/2008
A preliminary IDF inquiry into the Palestinian raid on the Nahal Oz fuel depot on Wednesday has revealed serious failures in the way some of the forces were deployed and operated during the attack. Two Israeli civilian truck drivers were shot dead at the depot by four Palestinian terrorists. Two of the terrorists were killed by the IDF. The fuel depot at Nahal Oz, near the Karni crossing, is about 50 meters east of the Gaza border fence and about 300 meters from the Palestinian terminal, on the western side of the fence. The four terrorists ran more than 200 meters across an open area west of the fence, but nobody noticed them, despite the series of observation posts staked out in the area. The terrorists cut the fence and passed into the Israeli side, very close to an unmanned IDF guardpost. Two of them climbed over the 2. more.. e-mail
Four escaped Fatah activists return to Jneid prison
Ma’an News Agency 4/10/2008
Nablus Ma’an Four of the Palestinian activists affiliated to Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades who fled the Jneid detention centre west of Nablus in the northern West Bank turned themselves over to the Palestinian security on Wednesday night. Director of the Palestinian preventive security in Nablus, Akram Rajoub, told Ma’an’s reporter that intensive efforts had been made to secure the safe return of the activists. Palestinian security services are still endeavoring to locate eight other activists who also fled Jneid last Friday. The twelve fighters fled the Palestinian Authority (PA) prison near Nablus on Friday night after a clash with Palestinian security forces. Mahdi Abu Ghazaleh, a Nablus-based commander of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed organization linked to Fatah, said that he and the other fighters forced their way out of the Al-Jneid prison after enduring "brutal treatment" by the guards in Section Four of the facility. more.. e-mail
PA security apparatuses and IOF troops kidnap 14 cadres of Hamas in WB
Palestinian Information Center 4/10/2008
RAMALLAH, [PIC]-- The PA security apparatuses kidnapped Thursday in different areas of the West Bank seven of Hamas cadres, while the IOF troops kidnapped seven others released recently from the PA jails in the context of the security coordination between them. The family of Musharraf Abu Ira, one of the kidnapped citizens, appealed to human rights organizations to intervene to get their son released from the PA intelligence’s jail in Tubas. The IOF troops kidnapped at dawn Thursday four Palestinian citizens from the Balata refugee camp and the Bita village in the Nablus city after breaking into and ransacking a number of houses. The IOF troops also closed the only entrance to the village and blocked the Palestinian citizens from leaving or entering. Sheikh Kamal Al-Najjar, the mayor of the Khuza’a town in Khan Younis, reported that the IOF troops under air cover invaded Thursday. . . more.. e-mail
Hamas: Israel digging tunnels to kidnaps Hamas leaders
Roee Nahmias, YNetNews 4/10/2008
Hamas interior minister claims Shin Bet purchasing houses in Gaza through local agents, plans to use them to kidnap group’s officials to Israel - Israel has dug tunnels under the Gaza Strip in order to kidnap senior Hamas leaders," Hamas Interior Minister Said Siam told the London-based Arabic newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat. In an interview published Thursday, Siam claimed that the Shin Bet has been acting through local agents across the Strip to purchase apartments that could be used as bases of operations for such kidnappings. According to the Hamas official, the security forces in Gaza recently arrested two Palestinians, a father and son, who are suspected of collaborating with the Shin Bet. The two were arrested after they bought an apartment in Gaza City located close to the house of Hamas military wing commander Raed al-Atar’s sister. more.. e-mail
Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades claim responsibility for targeting Israeli patrol
Ma’an News Agency 4/10/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades said on Thursday that a group of their fighters opened fire on Wednesday afternoon at an Israeli patrol which was traveling between the Karni and the Nahal Oz terminals. The group said in a statement that its fighters fired heavily at the Israeli patrol using machine guns. The claimed they hit a number of Israeli soldiers. Israeli radio announced that an Israeli soldier was killed and two others were injured. The statement added that PFLP fighters launched four mortar shells at Israeli military vehicles in the Ash-Shuja’iyya neighborhood of Gaza City in retaliation for the assassination of their leader Isma’il Abu An-Nasr, who was killed on Wednesday. more.. e-mail
Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades target Israeli military base
Ma’an News Agency 4/10/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, claimed responsibility on Thursday morning for launching a homemade projectile at an Israeli military base east of Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. They said in a statement that the shelling came in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli atrocities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. [end]
Military wings of the PFLP and the DFLP claim firing projectiles at Israeli targets
Ma’an News Agency 4/10/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades claimed responsibility on Thursday for firing two homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot. Separately, the National Resistance Brigades, the military wing affiliated to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), said their fighters launched a homemade projectile at the Sufa military base east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. The military wings said they would continue to resist the Israeli occupation as "resistance is the best way to respond to ongoing Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people. " [end]
Bombers seized near Bethlehem, Israeli sources say
Ma’an News Agency 4/10/2008
Bethlehem Israeli sources claimed on Wednesday afternoon that an undercover Israeli unit seized two Palestinians near Kfar Etzion to the west of Bethlehem in the southern West Bank. The sources claim the two men were on their way to undertake a military operation inside Israel. The sources said the arrest came after an intelligence lead indicated that Palestinians were planning to conduct a bombing operation inside Israel. As a result of the information, the Israeli secret service, the Shin Bet, cancelled a visit to the Etzion area by Israeli opposition leader Benyamin Netanyahu. [end]
Weekly Report on Israeli human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory 03 - 09 Apr 2008
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, ReliefWeb 4/9/2008
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks against Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)- 8 Palestinians, including a child and a farmer, were killed by IOF in the Gaza Strip. - 5 of the victims, including a child and his uncle, were killed in a series of attacks launched by IOF against the east of Gaza City in less than 5 hours. - A Palestinian child was run down to death by an Israeli settler. - 25 Palestinian, including 5 children, were wounded by IOF in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. - IOF conducted 30 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, and 7 ones into the Gaza Strip. - IOF arrested 65 Palestinian civilians, including 7 children and a girl, in the West Bank and 10 others, including 3 children, in the Gaza Strip. more.. e-mail
Shin Bet thwarts mass restaurant poisoning
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 4/10/2008
Two Palestinian employees detained mere days before they planned to lace food at Ramat Gan grill bar with tasteless, odorless toxin -The thwarting of an alarming terror plot was cleared for publication on Thursday, almost three weeks after a joint Shin Bet and police operation led to the arrest of two Palestinian employees of the ’Grill Express’ restaurant in Ramat Gan. The men, Eihab Abu Rial and Anas Salum, both 21-year-old residents of the West Bank city of Nablus, had planned to lace dishes served at the establishment with a powerful toxin without odor or taste, in the hopes of killing as many patrons as possible. The two did not have working permits and were residing in Israel illegally. While in Nablus, they had been recruited to the al-Aqsa Martyr’s Bridges, the military wing of Fatah, under the guidance and funding of Hizbullah. The men were arrested by police investigators following information obtained by the Shin Bet, several. . . more.. e-mail
VIDEO - News / 2 Palestinians arrested for plot to poison Ramat Gan diners
Haaretz Staff and Channel 10, Ha’aretz 4/11/2008
Haaretz. com/Channel 10 news roundup for April 10, 2008. In this edition:Two Palestinians are arrested for a plot to poison Ramat Gan diners. The IDF blames Dor Alon gas station chain for not posting guards at the site of Wednesday’s Gaza infiltration attack. Tycoon Arkady Gaydamak is accused of the improper handling of vast sums in an deal between Russia and Angola. Police arrest 11 suspected members of a crime ring operating in the South, including an officer in the Israel Defense Forces. [end]
Brutal fighting throughout Gaza Strip, Israeli forces kill 7 Palestinians, including 3 children
Palestine News Network 4/9/2008
PNN - Israeli forces have been engaging in fighting with the armed resistance throughout the Gaza Strip since this morning. And by late afternoon the Israeli attacks had turned even worse with the killing of three children. It began when 23 year old Mohammad Shamiyah of Hamas’ Al Qassam Brigades was killed before dawn Wednesday near Al Qarrara Village, just north of Khan Younis. Another resistance member was injured during fighting that had Islamic Jihad’s resistance wing Saraya Al Quds working with Al Qassam. An Israeli soldier was also killed, and two injured according to an Israeli military statement. Later statements were also issued by the armed resistance groups who said, "Let this be a lesson to the occupation army. "On Wednesday Israeli forces killed two more members of the resistance near the Nahal Oz Commercial Crossing. more.. e-mail
Palestinian militants kill Israeli civilians in Gaza attack
Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem, The Guardian 4/9/2008
Palestinian gunmen today attacked a fuel depot on the Gaza border, killing two Israeli civilian workers and injuring two others as militants fired waves of mortars at the crossing post. Israeli troops shot dead two of the attackers at the Nahal Oz fuel crossing, but two others fled back into Gaza. Israeli soldiers and tanks crossed into Gaza and at least six Palestinians were killed shortly afterwards in Israeli strikes. In another clash earlier in the day, an Israeli soldier and a Hamas militant were killed during an Israeli military raid into southern Gaza. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by two extremist groups, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees. However, the Israeli government said it held responsible the Hamas Islamist movement, which controls the Gaza Strip. The Hamas attack on the fuel terminal that supplies Gaza its energy shows their total and complete disregard for the civilian population of Gaza," said Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces seize 41 Palestinians in the West Bank in largest raids in months
Ma’an News Agency 4/9/2008
Nablus Ma’an Israeli forces seized 41 Palestinians during raids in the West Bank on Wednesday morning, Palestinian witnesses and security forces reported. Israeli troops detained 25 Palestinians in the city of Nablus in one of the largest arrest raids in months. Twenty-four of those arrestees were affiliated to Fatah, and one to Hamas, local sources said. Palestinian security sources told Ma’an’s reporter in Nablus that more than 30 Israeli military vehicles stormed Nablus and neighboring Askar refugee camp from the east and west at 2am. Israeli troops raided numerous Palestinian homes before seizing 25 young Palestinian men. In the village of Shawawra, east of Bethlehem, Israeli forces seized two men who Palestinian security forces say are Islamic Jihad activists. Separately, Israeli forces seized four Palestinians in the West Bank city of Qalqilia. more.. e-mail
Gaza groups claim credit for Karni attack
Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz 4/10/2008
The Popular Resistance Committees, Islamic Jihad and Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades (a unit called the Mujahideen Brigades) took joint responsibility for yesterday’s shooting attack near the Karni border terminal and Kibbutz Nahal Oz, in which Palestinian infiltrators from the Gaza Strip killed two Israeli civilians at a fuel depot. Abu Mujahad, the spokesman for the PRC military wing, said yesterday that the attack was aimed at abducting Israeli soldiers and breaking the Gaza blockade. Islamic Jihad spokesman Abu Ahmed said the Palestinians who participated in the attack returned to Gaza, but a short time later he said two of them were killed during the attack. Hamas has not issued a public reaction to the attack. The Israel Defense Forces fired missiles at a Palestinian vehicle and a home in Gaza as part of its efforts to find the gunmen who fled the scene, killing four. . . more.. e-mail
Hamas blamed after two Israelis killed at fuel depot
The Independent 4/9/2008
Two Israeli civilians were killed yesterday by Palestinian gunmen who managed to break through Gaza’s border fence in a daylight attack on the nearby main fuel depot of Nahal Oz. The attack threatened to presage a fresh outbreak of violence after the month of relative quiet in Gaza that followed the major Israeli incursion into the Jabalya district of northern Gaza that resulted in the deaths of 120 Palestinians. The Israeli military said it had shot dead two of the Palestinian attackers as they tried to flee back into Gaza. Two other militants escaped across the Strip’s eastern border. While responsibility for the attack was claimed by Islamic Jihad and two smaller factions -- the Popular Resistance Committees and the Mujahadeen Brigades -- the Israeli government was quick to lay the blame on Hamas, which has controlled the Strip since its enforced takeover in June. more.. e-mail
IDF soldier killed, two wounded in southern Gaza Strip
Yuval Azoulay and Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 4/10/2008
An Israel Defense Forces soldier was killed and two others were lightly wounded Wednesday morning in clashes with Hamas gunmen in the southern Gaza StripAn IDF source said Wednesday that the soldier, 21-year-old Staff Sargeant Sayaf Bisan from the Druze village of Kfar Jat, was killed during a routine IDF operations against the Palestinian terror infrastructure. IDF troops shot and killed two militants during the exchange of gunfire. The wounded soldiers, from the Egoz reconnaissance unit of the Golani Infantry Brigade, were evacuated to Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva for treatment. Also on Wednesday, four mortar shells struck Kibbutz Ein Hasholsha in the western Negev near the border with the Gaza Strip. No damages or injuries were reported. On Tuesday, soldiers from the Givati Infantry Brigade and the Armored. . . more.. e-mail
PA police and escaped Fatah militants clash in Nablus
Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz 4/10/2008
Gunfire erupted Wednesday night between the Palestinian police and a Fatah splinter group called "the Nightriders" in the West Bank town of Nablus. The group last week escaped from a Palestinian prison, where they had been kept under the terms of an agreement with Israel offering amnesty to wanted militants. Dozens of wanted militants in Jenin, meanwhile, were let out of Palestinian detention centers, where they had been kept as part of the deal. They claimed that the pardon they were expecting from Israel was notforthcoming and were released without weapons. [end]
Israeli air strike targets Nahal Oz "terrorists"
Ali Waked, YNetNews 4/9/2008
Army says strike in Gaza hit two gunmen involved in Nahal Oz attack; another air strike wounds three, among them Islamic Jihad members. IDF official says fuel terminal to remain closed in next few days - The IDF has launched a series of aerial strikes on the Gaza Strip Wednesday in retaliation for the "terror" attack at the Nahal Oz fuel terminal earlier in the day, which left two Israelis killed. The victims were identified as Oleg Lipson, 37-years old, and Lev Charniak, 53-years old; both from Beersheba. In one of the strikes, launched at around 9 pm, an army aircraft struck two of the "terrorists" who were involved in the deadly shooting. According to IDF and Shin Bet officials, one of the gunmen hit was a member of the cell that carried out the attack, while the other drove the terrorists’ getaway car. more.. Israeli air strike targets Nahal Oz "terrorists"
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3529889,00.html
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Israel imposes additional checkpoints around Jerusalem due to bombing fears
Ma’an News Agency 4/9/2008
Bethlehem Ma’an Israeli military forces set up several new checkpoints, and intensified security at existing checkpoints around Jerusalem on Wednesday due to what Israeli sources say is evidence of a planned Palestinian bombing operation. Palestinian commuters told Ma’an that Israeli soldiers set up spontaneous checkpoints, known as "flying checkpoints," on main roads in Bethlehem, Hebron, and Beit Sahour. Palestinians reported long lines and intensive searches at the roadblocks. Israeli police have deployed extra forces near hospitals and government buildings in Jerusalem. According to the United Nations, Israel already maintains more than 550 checkpoints and other roadblocks in the occupied West Bank. more.. e-mail
IOF troops round up 24 Palestinians in Nablus
Palestinian Information Center 4/9/2008
NABLUS, (PIC)-- Large numbers of IOF troops stormed the West Bank city of Nablus at dawn Wednesday and rounded up 24 Palestinians citizens from Jabal Shamali neighborhood, locals reported. The sources said that the soldiers broke into many civilians’ homes especially in Ein refugee camp and forced citizens out of their homes in Jabal Shamali area. The detained Palestinians included teens as well as men in their forties including brothers, the sources said, noting that the soldiers withdrew from the city after the kidnapping. In Jenin, IOF troops roamed the streets of the city amidst random shooting but no arrests were made. [end]
PFLP fighters ’launch projectile’ at Sderot
Ma’an News Agency 4/9/2008
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, claimed responsibility for launching two homemade projectiles on Wednesday at the Israeli town of Sderot, bordering the Gaza Strip. The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades said that the attack was a response to Israel’s "crimes" against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. [end]
Palestinian security forces ’arrest’ three Hamas members
Ma’an News Agency 4/9/2008
Nablus Ma’an Hamas accused Fatah-allied Palestinian security forces of arresting three Hamas supporters in the West Bank on Tuesday evening. Hamas said that the arrestees were from the cities of Hebron and Tulkarem. [end]
Israel hits back after two die in crossing attack
Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem, The Guardian 4/10/2008
Palestinian gunmen attacked a fuel depot on the Gaza border yesterday, killing two Israeli civilian workers and injuring two others as militants fired waves of mortars at the crossing post. Israeli troops shot dead two of the attackers at the Nahal Oz fuel crossing, but two others fled back into Gaza. Israeli soldiers and tanks crossed into Gaza and at least six Palestinians were killed shortly afterwards in Israeli strikes. In another clash earlier in the day, an Israeli soldier and a Hamas militant were killed during an Israeli military raid into southern Gaza. Responsibility for the fuel depot attack was claimed by two extremist groups, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees. However, the Israeli government said it held the Hamas Islamist movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, responsible. Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said the more.. e-mail
Forewarned, truck drivers escaped Gaza attackers
Fadi Eyadat, Ha’aretz 4/10/2008
The terror attack yesterday on the fuel depot near the Karni terminal on the Gaza border, in which Palestinian gunmen killed two Israelis, appears to have been planned as a way of abducting an Israeli soldier or civilian, said Israel Defense Forces officials. This assessment is bolstered by the presence, on the Palestinian side of the crossing, of two cars that were apparently meant to bring back the victim or victims of the kidnapping into Gaza. The attack took place around 3 P. M. , as Palestinians fired mortar shells at the fuel depot to cover the infiltration of four or five terrorists across the Gaza border fence, which an IDF source said they cut through. Palestinian coordinators responsible for transferring fuel near the Karni terminal on the Gaza border warned the Israeli workers at the fuel depot about terrorist infiltration into Israel a short time before the attack,. . . more.. e-mail
Israelis, Palestinians trade bloody blows in and around Gaza
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 4/10/2008
GAZA CITY: Three Israelis and eight Palestinians were killed on Wednesday in an explosion of violence around the Gaza Strip after Israel launched a bloody raid into the coastal enclave and Palestinian commandos responded by storming into the Jewish state in a failed attempt to capture an Israeli soldier. The dead Palestinians included both militants and civilians, one of them a teenage boy. The Israeli military said Palestinian fighters breached the border near the Nahal Oz terminal, which provides Gaza with its fuel supplies, and moved into Israel under the cover of a barrage of 15 mortar rounds. The attack killed two Israeli civilians in their 30s, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service. A military official said the militants opened fire at short range at the two Israelis who were working at the terminal, located east of Gaza City. more.. e-mail
Local security officer: Palestinians warned of infiltration
Avi Issacharoff, and Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 4/10/2008
Palestinian fuel coordinators alerted Israelis manning the Nahal Oz fueling terminal that Palestinian "terrorists" had infiltrated Israel prior to the "terror" attack that left two Israeli civilians dead, Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council chief security officer Yoav Peled said Wednesday. "It is in the Palestinians’ interest that fuel continue to be transferred [from Israel] into the Gaza Strip, so they gave the Israeli side, the guys that worked there, information about the infiltration, and warned them," Peled said. According to Peled, the drivers of the fuel trucks that were at the terminal during the time of the attack managed to flee unharmed, but two Israeli employees were murdered while attempting to escape. The two were shot at very close range while one of them was in a truck and the other was standing just outside the vehicle. more.. e-mail
IDF investigates Nahal Oz attack
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 4/9/2008
Probe to focus on how Gaza terrorists managed to infiltrate Israel in broad daylight without being detected. Southern Command: Soldiers’ quick response prevented large-scale attack - The IDF’s investigation into Wednesday’s deadly shooting attackat Nahal Oz is focusing on how the terrorists managed to approach the fuel terminal in broad daylight without being spotted by military observation posts positioned nearby. The army will also examine how the gunmen managed to cut through the barbwire fence separating Israel from Gaza, infiltrate Israel shoot two terminal employees dead and escape back to the Strip. Officials in the IDF’s Southern Command said the forces’ quick response prevented a large-scale attack with harsher consequences, such as the kidnapping of Israeli civilians into Gaza, but the army will also check to see whether the soldiers reacted promptly. more.. e-mail
VIDEO - IDF soldier killed in Gaza clash
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 4/9/2008
(Video) Palestinians open fire at Israeli force operating near Kissufim crossing in southern Strip; soldier killes, two troops lightly injured. IDF fires back from air, killing Hamas gunman - VIDEO -An IDF soldier was killed and two others were lightly injured Tuesday night during an Israeli raid in the southern Gaza Strip, near the Kissufim crossing. The killed soldier was identified as Staff Sergeant Sayef Bisan, 21, of the Druze village of Jat in the western Galilee. His family was informed of his death. The wounded troops were evacuated to the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. Video courtesy ofInfolive. tv During the operation, the troops encountered a group of gunmen who opened fire at them, killing one soldier and injuring two others. In response, the IDF fired at the Palestinians from the air, hitting two gunmen. more.. e-mail
J’lem police lower alert over suspected terrorist infiltration
Haaretz Staff, Ha’aretz 4/9/2008
Police in Jerusalem went on high alert Wednesday, after receiving warning that a terrorist had infiltrated the capital. The alert was lifted by early afternoon, police said, without providing further details. While the alert was in effect, police beefed up security checks at theentrance to the city, and special patrol units were deployed in and around Jerusalem, police said. The Israeli rescue service said it raised its alert in the Jerusalem area to its highest level, doubling the number of staff and ambulances on call. The most recent attack in Jerusalem occurred about one month ago, when a Palestinian gunman opened fire in the Mercaz Harav yeshiva, killing eight students and wounding nine others. Last week, the Tel Aviv region was placed on a similar alert, which was lowered several hours later, following the arrests of four Palestinians. more.. e-mail
VIDEO - 2 Israelis killed in "terror" attack at Nahal Oz
Ali Waked, YNetNews 4/9/2008
(Video) Palestinian gunmen opened fire at border terminal in southern Israel, killing two Israeli civilians; IDF says "terror" cell set out to abduct soldiers. Ensuing Air Force strike kills three Palestinians in Gaza City - VIDEO - Two Israelis were killed Wednesday afternoon in exchanges of fire that erupted near the Nahal Oz fuel terminal in the central Gaza Strip, the Magen David Adom emergency services reported. The Israelis killed in the attack were employed at the terminal. They were identified as Oleg Lipson, 37-years old, and Lev Charniak, 53-years old; both from Beersheba. The Zaka emergency service said two Palestinian gunmen were killed as well. Spokesmen for militant groups who claimed responsibility for the raid said the remaining attackers withdrew back into the Gaza Strip, under fire from pursuing Israeli helicopters and tanks. more.. VIDEO - 2 Israelis killed in "terror" attack at Nahal Oz
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3529715,00.html
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VIDEO - News / Two Israeli civilians killed by Gazan infiltrators
Haaretz Staff and Channel 10, Ha’aretz 4/9/2008
Haaretz. com/Channel 10 news roundup for April 9, 2008. Two Israeli civilians are shot to death by Palestinian infiltrators from the Gaza Strip. Palestinian militants and the Israel Defense Forces say the goal of the attack was to abduct soldiers. IDF soldier Sayaf Bisan is killed during a routine operation in the Gaza Strip. [end]
VIDEO - Nahal Oz residents shocked by attack
Roi Mandel, YNetNews 4/9/2008
(Video) Residents of terrorized kibbutz asked to stay in secure rooms for fear of further firing by terrorists. Mortar shells continued to fall long after the gunmen left. Kibbutz resident: ’Nothing like this has ever happened here’ - VIDEO -"It was terrifying - I have been living in Nahal Ozmany years and I have never experienced such a barrage of shots and mortars," Nahal Oz resident Ofra Hartov recounted during an interview with Ynet, describing the terror attack on a fuel terminal located near the the kibbutz Wednesday, during which two people were killed. IDF officials estimated that three to five gunmen infiltrated the terminal from Gaza in an attempt to kidnap soldiers. Nahal Oz is the only kibbutz in the area with secure rooms, and the residents were told to remain hidden inside of these rooms. more.. e-mail
One Palestinian, one Israeli killed in Israeli incursion in Khan Younis
Ma’an News Agency 4/9/2008
Gaza Ma’an One Hamas fighter was killed and another injured on Wednesday morning during fierce fighting with undercover Israeli forces who raided Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, witnesses said. One Israeli soldier was killed and two others injured in the clashes, the Israeli army said. The wounded soldiers were treated at Soroka hospital in Be’er Sheva. Palestinian medical sources identified the dead Palestinian fighter as 23-year-old Muhammad Shamiyya, an activist with the armed wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassam Brigades. The Israeli forces withdrew at 6:30am, ending the fighting. The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades and the Al-Qassam Brigades said their fighters involved in fierce clashes with the invading Israeli forces firing rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) at those forces. more.. e-mail
Four Palestinians, including three children killed in Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 4/9/2008
Gaza Ma’an Four Palestinians, including 3 children were killed when Israeli warplanes launched a missile at a car in the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City. Ma’an’s reporter said Israeli warplanes and tanks fired several missiles at Palestinian houses across the Gaza Strip resulting in a number of casualties. Director of the Ash-Shifa medical centre in Gaza City Dr Ra’id Areini said that the centre received three dead bodies including two children, as well as six wounded, four of them children. [end]
Israeli tanks kill one Palestinian fighter in Gaza incursion
Ma’an News Agency 4/8/2008
Gaza Ma’an Israeli tanks killed a 35-year-old member of the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, Awad Tahrawi, during an incursion in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Palestinian fighters fought Israeli forces who had entered the area on Tuesday morning. The director of Kamal Udwan hospital said that Tahrawi’s dead body appeared to have wounds resulting from a tank shell. Another fighter was mildly injured in the battle. The military wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassam Brigades, claimed to have fired 19 mortar rounds at invading Israeli forces in Jabalia and the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza city. Earlier on Tuesday, Thirty Israeli military vehicles advanced towards Jabalia, stopping 100 meters from a Palestinian residential neighborhood, witnesses said. Jabalia residents said the Israeli forces have fired heavily towards the Palestinian houses. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces seize 17 Palestinians in West Bank raids
Ma’an News Agency 4/8/2008
Nablus Ma’an Israeli forces seized 17 Palestinians during raids across the West Bank early on Tuesday morning, Palestinian and Israeli sources reported. Palestinian witnesses said Israeli troops invaded the city of Nablus and the nearby village of Burqa, ransacking several houses before arresting six teenagers and a 30-year-old man. Israeli media reported that Israeli forces raided Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Hebron, detaining Palestinians in each location. [end]
VIDEO - Sanctions force Gazans to wait in line for days for a bit of fuel
Haaretz Staff and Channel 10, Ha’aretz 4/9/2008
Haaretz. com/Channel 10 news roundup for April 8, 2008. Where there is a gas station in the Gaza Strip, there is an inevitable line of cars several kilometers long, comprised of drivers who wait days and nights for a bit of fuel. Israel restricted fuel supplies to the Strip late last year, in an attempt to pressure Palestinian militants into halting rocket fire at neighboring Israeli communities. Gaza now receives roughly one-third of the diesel that Israel used to transfer. The rocket fire hasn’t abated, but civilians certainly are feeling the heat. Some drivers have been waiting an entire week in order to come away with a maximum of 20 liters of diesel fuel. [end]
8 wounded as PA, al-Aqsa gunmen exchange fire in Nablus
Ali Waked, YNetNews 4/8/1920
Palestinian security forces clash with fugitive members of al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades who fled prison. Mother, son passing by caught in crossfire - Palestinian security forces in pursuit of 13 members of the al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades - the military wing of Fatah - came under fire in the West Bank city of Nablus on Tuesday afternoon after the fugitives ambushed them in the Kasbah area of the Old City. The men, who escaped from a Palestinian Authority prison facility last week, denied they had opened fire first and said they were attacked by the security troops. Latest reports tally the casualties from the exchange of fire at eight - five of which are PA security officers, one an al-Aqsa gunman and the remaining two were civilians, a mother and son who were caught in the crossfire. Palestinian officials said troops were searching the Old City for the 13 fugitives when they were fired upon. more.. e-mail
Report: Gunman killed by IDF fire in Gaza
Ali Waked, YNetNews 4/8/1920
Palestinian sources say one gunman killed, three others injured in gunfight with army force near northern Gaza town of Jabalya -Palestinian sources in Gaza reported that one man was killed and three other people injured in clashes with IDF soldiers near the town of Jabalya in northern Gaza. The gunmen apparently belonged to the Popular Resistance Committees’ Salah al-Din Brigades. According to witnesses, an IDF force has been operating in the area since the morning hours. The IDF confirmed that soldiers have engaged in a gunfight with Palestinian gunmen. A spokesman for the army said that two gunmen had been bit and that none of the soldiers was wounded. Earlier Tuesday, Palestinians fired three rockets from northern Gaza at southernIsrael. Two rockets landed near the entrance to Sderot and the third hit an open field outside town. more.. e-mail
Tunnel meant for terrorist infiltration found in N. Gaza
Yuval Azoulay and Mijal Grinberg, Ha’aretz 4/9/2008
Israel Defense Forces troops operating overnight Tuesday outside the northern Gaza Strip town of Jebaliya uncovered an opening to a tunnel into Israel. The opening was discovered during a Givati infantry raid some 700 meters inside the border fence. The tunnel was in its preliminary stages, and military sources believe that it was dug to serve as a pathway for suicide bombers into Israel. A similar tunnel was used by Gaza terror groups to enter Israel and kidnap IDF corporal Gilad Shalit near kibbutz Kerem Shalom in June 2006. Two armed militants were killed in an exchange of fire that erupted during the raid. The militants were apparently equipped with an RPG rocket launcher and Kalashnikov rifles. The IDF force sustained no casualties. The IDF said that the raid, which concluded Tuesday afternoon, was a routine defense operation aimed at foiling terror infrastructure in the area. more.. e-mail
IDF uncovers tunnel in Palestinian house
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 4/8/1920
Joint IDF-Shin Bet operation reveals 11. 5-feet tunnel not far from Israeli community of Kfar Aza; one gunman killed, three injured during raid - A 3. 5-meter (11. 5-feet) tunnel dug inside a Palestinian house was uncovered Tuesday during an IDF operation in the northern Gaza Strip. The tunnel was revealed some 700 meters (2,296 feet) away from the Israeli community of Kfar Aza. Military sources estimated that this was another attempt by terror organizations to cross into Israel in order to carry out a terror attack, by moving under the fence or planting explosives under an Israeli target, such as a military post. The forces, belonging to the Givati Brigade and the armor and engineering corps, operated as part of a joint IDF-Shin Bet raid aimed at uncovering terror infrastructures near the border fence. more.. e-mail
Sderot rocket sirens blare during visit by Turkish MPs
Roee Nahmias, YNetNews 4/9/2008
Turkish parliamentarians tour rocket-battered town in southern Israel, experience difficult reality first-hand. ’They looked more alert but they were understanding about it,’ said officials who were escorting them. Delegation met later with president, foreign minister -Eight members of the Turkish Foreign Affairs Committee paid a unique visit to southern Israel on Tuesday, the first such delegation from Ankara to tour Israel that was not part of an entourage for a visiting prime minister or other top legislator. The ’Color Red’ rocket alert sirens blared throughout the streets of Sderot while the group was there, warning of an incoming