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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Thursday, June 18th, 2015.
Two civilians injured by Israeli troops gunfire during invasions targeting west Bank communities and Israeli radicals set historical church on fire. These stories, and more, coming up, stay tuned.
Israeli soldiers shot and injured, on Thursday at dawn, two Palestinians in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and kidnapped two brothers in an invasion into Beta town, south of the city. Media sources in Nablus said several military vehicles, a number of settlers’ buses, and a military bulldozer, invaded the Eastern Area in Nablus, leading to clashes with local Palestinian youths.
Medical sources said resident Eyad Ma’in Kalbouna, 23, was shot with a live round in his left leg, while Mohammad Ghassan Hashshash, 24, from the Balata refugee camp, was shot with two live rounds in the chest and thigh. The two have been moved to the Rafidia Governmental Hospital, in Nablus, suffering moderate-but-stable injuries.
In addition, soldiers invaded Beta village, south of Nablus, stormed and searched several homes, and kidnapped two brothers.
Elsewhere, Early Thursday morning, right-wing Israelis set on fire the Church of the Multiplication, where Christians believe that Jesus multiplied loaves and fishes, and wrote graffiti in Hebrew on the walls that read, ‘False idols will be smashed’ and ‘Pagans’.
The fire was set at about 3 am in the early hours of Thursday morning, severely damaging church offices and storage rooms. The entire church was saturated with smoke damage.
Several church volunteers suffered from smoke inhalation while trying to extinguish the fire before the firefighters arrived on the scene. The fire was put out several hours after it began.
The church, which is run by the Catholic Benedictine Order, is best known for its fifth-century mosaics, including one depicting two fish flanking a basket of loaves. Christian churches have been targeted by right-wing Jewish Israeli attacks hundreds of times in recent years.
In other news, The family of political detainee Khader Adnan held by the Israeli military said that Adnan refused to undergo medical tests by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) delegation.
The reason of his refusal was because of administrative restrictions that Adnan’s hands and feet are chained to his bed for 24 hours, during the tests.
Adnan said that his refusal was due to the fact that that if Israel strips associations such as PHR and the Red Cross from their powers, any delegation will have no function but to polish the face of the Israeli military Prison Service. Adnan has been on hunger strike for the 45 days in a row.
And that’s all for today from the IMEMC News; this was the Thursday, June 18th, 2015 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 Ghassan Bannoura.
