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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Monday, October 21, 2013.
Israeli troops invade a number of West Bank communities and kidnap eight civilians while tanks and bulldozers destroy farm lands near Gaza borders. These stories, and more, coming up, stay tuned.
Eight Palestinian civilian were kidnapped on Monday morning by Israeli troops during invasions targeting West Bank communities.
Local sources have reported that dozens of Israeli soldiers invaded Bani Neim town, east of Hebron, southern West Bank, broke into and searched several homes, and kidnapped five Palestinians.
Meanwhile Soldiers installed a roadblock at the Halhoul Bridge, stopped and searched dozens of vehicles, and interrogated several residents while inspecting their ID cards.
Furthermore, dozens of soldiers invaded Ein Al-Hilwa area, north of the West Bank’s Northern Plains area, and kidnapped two Palestinian youths.
Witnesses said that Israeli settlers have attacked the two, adding that the soldiers kidnapped the two as they tried to escape the attack against them.
Also on Monday a group of extremist settlers attacked several shepherds in the area, and forced them out of grazing lands while threatening to shoot them.
Earlier on Monday, soldiers invaded the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and kidnapped one resident. In related news, Israeli soldiers handed the Wadi Fokkin village council, west of Bethlehem, a military order informing it that it should stop the construction in a public park in the area.
The order states that all constructions should stop immediately, and that the area in question is “under Israeli sovereignty”. The land are owned by local farmers and are set to be annexed to the nearby illegal Israeli settlement, local sources reported.
Elsewhere A number of Israeli military vehicles invaded Palestinian farmlands east of Deir Al-Balah, in central Gaza, and fired rounds of live ammunition.
Eyewitnesses said that seven armored vehicles, including thee bulldozers, invaded the farmlands, while the soldiers fired rounds of live ammunition targeting farmlands and homes in the area. In addition soldiers bulldozed and uprooted agricultural lands before withdrawing from the area.
Israeli soldiers conduct frequent invasions into Palestinian areas close to the northern and eastern parts of the Gaza Strip, and prevent the farmers from entering their lands, especially those located close to the border.
And that’s all for today from the IMEMC News; this was the Monday, October 21, 2013 news round-up from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. For more news and updates please visit our website at www.imemc.org. Today’s report has been brought to you by George Rishmawi and me, Ghassan Bannoura.
