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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Thursday February 27, 2014.
Israeli troops kill a Palestinian civilian in the West Bank and unknown gunmen target a church in Gaza. These stories, and more, coming up, stay tuned.
Muatazz Washaha, 24, was killed on Thursday morning after Israeli troops invaded the town of Birzeit near the central West Bank city of Ramallah and surrounded his home.
Witnesses told local media that Israeli forces and an army bulldozer invaded the town on Thursday at dawn and surrounded the home of Washaha. Troops then demolished the house and fired live rounds into the home killing Washaha.
Later soldiers clashed with residents that gathered around the attack area and fired tear gas at them. Many civilians were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation and two young men, one is the cousin of Washaha, were taken by troop to unknown location.
With Washaha killing the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers since the start of the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks in August 2013 has reached 43. Last month Israeli troops killed a Palestinian young man as he was working on road repairs near Ramallah city.
Elsewhere three Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces gunfire, on Thursday, when they attacked a protest near Hebron against the killing of Muatazz Washaha.
In other news Israeli bulldozers began to destroy on Thursday Palestinian owned lands in Ja’loud village near the northern West Bank village Nablus, in order to expand settlements in the region.
Local sources said that Israeli settlers started to bulldoze tens of dunams of land in the vicinity of Shvut Rachel settlement, established on the lands of the village and in the neighboring villages, in order expand settlement construction.
In Gaza, The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) has stated that unknown gunmen detonated an explosive device in the yard of a local Christian church in Gaza City, and wrote racist anti-Christian graffiti.
The Center said that approximately at 12:30 after midnight, a loud explosion was heard in the yard of the Latin Church, and the Latin Patriarchate School, located in the Zeitoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City. The Palestinian police arrived at the scene, and initiated an investigation into the attack.
The PCHR denounced the attack, and demanded the Palestinian Police and security agencies in Gaza to conduct a serious investigation into the crime, in order to locate and prosecute the criminals. The center added that this attack targets the unity of the Palestinian people.
And that’s all for today from the IMEMC News; this was the Thursday February 27, 2014 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.
