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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www.imemc.org, for Wednesday August 27th, 2008.
Israeli military forces continue to invade West Bank cities and kidnap Palestinian civilians, meanwhile Israel keeps Gaza crossing closed as Free Gaza Boats prepare to leave, these stories and more, coming up, stay tuned.
The News Cast
An Israeli military force kidnapped three Palestinian civilians from the West Bank cities of Hebron, Nablus and Jenin on Wednesday morning, local sources reported.
A number of military vehicles invaded Hebron and the nearby Surief town and Beit Ula village. Troops launched a wide scale search of residents’ homes. Soldiers took Tahseen Abu Ayesh, Sharif Adwan and Ibrahim Saraheen prisoner and led them to undisclosed location.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society reported Wednesday that the number of Palestinian civilians imprisoned by Israeli troops during the month of August in Hebron stands at 48.
In Nablus troops roamed the main roads of the city, searched and ransacked residents’ homes in nearby Balata and Askar refugee camps.
In Jenin, Israeli troops accompanied by military vehicles invaded the city shooting in the air and randomly throwing concussion grenades in the streets.
Eye witnesses reported that troops broke into the residence of Abu Ali Aweis on Tuesday night. Soldiers seized the family members in one room and broke doors and windows of the house.
Moreover, Israel will keep border crossings into the Gaza Strip closed to commercial and humanitarian goods ‘until further notice,’ Israeli media outlets reported on Wednesday.
The decision, according to Israeli media sources, comes after an alleged violation of the truce deal between Hamas and Israel.
Meanwhile, Free Gaza Movement confirmed in a press statement on Wednesday that the group of their activists will return to Cyprus on Thursday via the sea.
The group arrived in Gaza on Saturday in two boats sailing from Cyprus, aiming at breaking the siege on Gaza Strip bringing with them much-needed medicine, medical supplies and food to the civilian population of Gaza, which has been suffering under an Israeli-imposed siege for over a year.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health at the Hamas-led government in Gaza reported today that 78 days after the truce deal came into effect in the Gaza Strip, 46 patients including 10 children, died due to the ongoing Israeli siege on the coastal region.
On a separate issue, security forces, loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, arrested nine members and supporters of Hamas in the West Bank cities of Jenin, Qalqilia, Tulkarem and Bethlehem.
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 has been brought to you by Husam Qassis and Georeg Rishmawi
