Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Thursday, January, 26, 2017.
Israeli troops kill a Palestinian man in the West Bank and abducts civilians during dawn invasions. These stories, and more, coming up, stay tuned.
Israeli soldiers killed, on Wednesday evening, a young Palestinian man at a bus station close to an illegal colony, east of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, after he reportedly tried to ram soldiers with his car. The army is claiming that the Palestinian, Hussein Salem Abu Ghosh, 24, drove his car off the road and crashed into the bus station, near “Adam” settlement, where many soldiers and settlers were waiting, and alleged that he “carried a knife, but did not leave the car.”
The army added that the incident did not lead to any casualties among the soldiers or the settlers. Abu Ghosh, from Qalandia refugee camp, was shot multiple times and bled to death after the soldiers prevented Palestinian medics from approaching him; the army placed his corpse in a black bag, and loaded it in their jeep, before driving to Jerusalem. The soldiers installed many roadblocks, and searched dozens of cars, especially in Hizma, Jaba’, Atarot and roads leading to Qalandia refugee camp, north of occupied Jerusalem.
Elsewhere, Israeli soldiers abducted, on Thursday at dawn, at least nine Palestinians, in different parts of the occupied West Bank. The army is claiming that the soldiers also located a weapon’s manufacturing workshop in Hebron.
An Israeli army spokesperson said the soldiers initiated an extensive campaign in the southern West Bank district of Hebron, and located a workshop containing eight lathe machines that were reportedly used for manufacturing weapons. He added that the invasion was part of what he called “the ongoing battles against guns and weapons’ manufacturing workshops.”
The soldiers conducted extensive searches of homes, in different parts of the occupied West Bank, and abducted nine Palestinians from their homes.
The abductions were largely carried out in the Jenin refugee camp, in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, in addition to Bidya town, and Askar refugee camp, in Nablus district, Deheishe refugee camp in Bethlehem, in addition to Yatta and Ethna, in Hebron. Initial reports indicate that an Israeli soldier was seriously injured in Jenin refugee camp, after Palestinian protesters hurled firebombs and pipe bombs at the invading military vehicles.
In other news, the Egyptian government announced on Thursday that it will open the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt for three days in both ways starting on Saturday. According to the Palestinian embassy in Cairo the border crossing will be open for stranded travelers on both sides of the borders, students, patients, and aid supplies.
Since Israel placed the Gaza Strip under siege back in 2006, the Rafah crossing became the only way for Palestinians to travel in or out of the coastal enclave. Egyptian authorities keep the crossing closed for most days of the year forcing the 2 million residents of Gaza to depend on goods and supplies coming from tunnels under the borders with Egypt.
And that’s all for today from the IMEMC News; this was the Thursday, January, 26, 2017, news round-up from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. From 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.
