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Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www.imemc.org, for Monday 29th of January 2007.
Infighting between factions in Gaza continues for the fifth consecutive day, three Palestinians have been killed and at least 100 others wounded. Meanwhile a suicide attack, in the Israeli coastal town of Eilat, kills three Israelis. These stories and more coming up stay tuned.
The Gaza Update
As factional infighting in Gaza continues for the fifth consecutive day, three Palestinians have been killed and at least 100 others wounded.
Palestinian medical sources reported that Wassfi Kardush, 21, was killed when a live round hit him in his heart while he was standing in front of his house, in Tal Al Hawa neighborhood on the Western side of Gaza city.
One Palestinian National security officer and a civilian man were killed at midday on Monday in the Gaza strip, due to continuous infighting between Hamas and Fatah. Mohamed Al Qassem, a Palestinian National security officer, a force affiliated with Fatah, was killed in downtown Gaza city when a group from the executive security force, a force affiliated with Hamas, opened fire at his car.
A medical source in Gaza City stated that Al Qassem sustained fatal wounds in the head and died shortly after the injury. In the meantime, amongst the state of lawlessness and infighting between the two rival parties of Hamas and Fatah, Kamal Al Najli, 28, was shot in the head and killed while attending a protest in Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza strip. Medical sources in Nasser hospital in Khan Younis said that Najli died of head wounds.
Moreover, a group of armed men working with the Hamas-affiliated executive force surrounded Ramzi Ghuben\’s house, located in Beit Lahiya, a town in the north of the Gaza strip. Ramzi is a leader of the Al-Aqsa brigades of Fatah. The group opened fire at the house, local sources reported damage to the house but no injuries. Eyewitnesses stated that clashes in the area are still ongoing.
Also on Monday afternoon Palestinian government sources reported that the office manager of the Palestinian minister of interior escaped an assassination attempt. Ibraheem Salah was entering a building in downtown Gaza city when a group of unknown gunmen opened fire at his car and injured his bodyguard Mohamed Al Khalidi, Salah escaped but Al Khalidi was admitted to hospital with moderate wounds.
Since Thursday afternoon fierce clashes have erupted between security forces and armed groups that belong to the two rival parties in Palestine, Hamas and Fatah. So far this has lead to the death of at least 33 Palestinians.
Israel Update
On Monday morning the first suicide bomb attack since April 2006 occurred in a bakery in the coastal town of Eilat, killing four. Israeli media sources reported the incident as being due to a gas leak, but later confirmed that an investigation brought Israeli Police to the conclusion that this was an attack carried out by a suicide bomber. The bakery is located in a residential area of the Red Sea coastal city of Eilat , which is a popular tourist resort. This is the first suicide bombing to be carried out in Eilat.
The Al-Quds Brigades of the Islamic Jihad, Al Aqsa Brigades of Fateh, and the Army of The Faithful Brigades, have all claimed responsibility for the attack. The Islamic Jihad has named the bomber as Mohammed al-Saqsaq, 21, of Gaza; Al Quds Brigades stated that he entered Israel via Jordan
The West Bank Update
The Israeli army invaded several cities in the northern part of the West Bank and abducted 17 Palestinian men on Monday morning. In Qalqilia, Israeli armed forces searched and ransacked a number of houses in the city centr and took 14 men to an unknown detention camp.
Among those abducted were; Abd Al Kareem Iwiss, 23, Ala Abu Hamed, 25, and Muaath Zahran, 24. Eyewitnesses stated that troops invaded the city in the dawn hours and continued to search houses and abduct men for more than four hours.
In the meantime, Israeli troops also invaded the city of Jenin and the nearby Al Zawia village, and abducted one man. Troops attacked, searched and ransacked residents houses in several parts of Jenin city, eyewitnesses reported that Israeli soldiers forced all family members out of their homes and questioned them, even the children.
In Al Zawia village soldiers also attacked and searched houses and took Rabe\’ Abu Al Wafa, 18 from his home, his family reported. At Howwara Israeli army checkpoint located on the southern entrance of Nablus city in the northern part of the West Bank, troops abducted two Palestinian men trying to cross the checkpoint
Israeli army sources claimed that the two were carrying cases of live rounds, a claim that was contradicted by eyewitnesses. Also on Monday morning, in the central part of the West Bank, the Israeli army abducted Assem Mubarak, 23, from AL Jalazon refugee camp in the city of Ramallah and took him to an unknown location after searching his house, local sources reported.
Conclusion
Thank you for joining us from Occupied Bethlehem. You have been listening to Palestine Today from the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, brought to you by Oliver Eacott and Ghassan Bannoura.
