Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 3 m 00s || 2.75 MB ||
Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www.imemc.org, for Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010.
One killed, and two injured by Israeli attacks on Gaza, while the military detain civilians in the West Bank. These stories and more coming up stay tuned.
The News Cast
The Israeli Air Force bombarded, on Wednesday at dawn, seven areas in the Gaza Strip killing one resident, and wounding two others. The army also carried out a limited invasion into northern Gaza.
The attacks targeted border areas, and the Gaza International Airport. The airport, located in the southern part of the Gaza Strip has been shut down since late September 2000, after being attacked a number of times by Israel.
An Israeli army spokesperson said, that the attacks targeted two tunnels, and added that the shelling comes in retaliation to Palestinian homemade shells fired into adjacent Israeli areas.
Later in the day Israeli tanks and bulldozers invaded residential areas and farm lands, east of Gaza City. As tanks opened fire at nearby resident’s homes, bulldozers destroyed farm lands, witnesses reported.
Elsewhere, Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, visited the Church of the Nativity, in the West Bank City of Bethlehem, today and held a joint press conference with Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas.
Meanwhile, 15 Palestinian civilians were detained, on Wednesday, by Israeli troops during pre-dawn invasions targeting a number of West Bank communities. Local sources reported house-to-house searches in villages and town centers in the central and southern parts of the West Bank.
In one of the invasions, Israeli troops attacked homes at the village of Bil’in, central West Bank, and detained a local journalist, one villager and an international journalist.
The village of Bil’in has been the scene of weekly non-violent actions against the separation wall Israel has built on the villagers’ land for the past five years.
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 Ruben O’Shea.
