Click on Link to adownload or play MP3 file || 3 m 0s || 2.75 MB ||Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www.imemc.org, for Thursday January 17th, 2008.
Israeli jet fighters continue to attack Gaza, killing two, while in the West Bank Israeli troops injure four civilians, these stories and more coming up stay tuned.
The News Cast
Palestinian medical sources reported that Ra’d Abu Fool, 43, from the Popular Resistance Committees’ armed wing, and his wife Amna Abu Fool, 40, died today at noon when an Israeli warplane fired a missile onto their car in the north of the Gaza Strip. Dr. Bassam Abu Warda, chief of the Kamal Edwan hospital in northern Gaza, told reporters that he has never seen such burns before, and sources also reported that a number of other Palestinians were wounded in the attack.
Palestinian health ministry’s sources had earlier voiced belief that the Israeli army has been using fletchets and illicit weapons against Palestinian civilians. Such doubts have not been verified by independent sources yet. Israeli army attacks on Gaza have been steadily increasing through the week, with a death toll estimated at least 25 and injuries at about 50; 12 of whom are critical.
The issue of stranded Gaza patients, who are in need of emergency treatment abroad, has reportedly been partially resolved today, as about 28 urgent cases will be moving to Jordan with referrals to hospitals over there as announced by Dr. Moawaiya Abu Hasanin, chief of the emergency and ambulance department at the health ministry. The Minister of the Civil Affairs department, Hussain Elsheikh, stated earlier that 31 patients have been allowed access to Amman, after the Israeli occupation authorities approved the names.
Four Palestinian civilians were moderately injured and sent to hospital in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, during clashes between Palestinian youth and the Israeli army on Thursday morning. Among them was a Palestinian journalist, Hazem Baader, 42, from the French News Agency AFP. Eye witnesses said Israeli troops clashed with the local residents, forced shops to close and imposed a curfew on several parts of the city. The clashes started when the army attacked a demonstration, organized by the local residents, protesting the continuous Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. Local youths threw stones at the army after soldiers attacked them with rifle butts and batons.
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. This report brought to you by Louisa White and Ghassan Bannoura.
