Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 3 m 15s || 2.97 MB ||
Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Thursday August 25, 2011.
Seven Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip and Israeli settlers burn olive trees near Ramallah, these stories and more coming up, stay tuned.
Seven Palestinians have been killed and over thirty were wounded during the last 24 hours in a number of Israeli airstrikes that targeted the Gaza Strip. The airstrikes hit a gym and locations suspected to be tunnels used for trafficking weapons into the Gaza Strip.
Israeli military escalated attacks following the deadly attack last Thursday which claimed the lives of eight Israelis in the southern part of Israel.
In addition to eight of the attacking fighters three Egyptian soldiers were killed by the Israeli military as they were chasing some of the attackers across the borders.
This incident created serious tension in diplomatic relations between Israel and Egypt. The Egyptian cabinet said it was not enough that Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and President Shimon Peres expressed regret for the incident, Egypt’s cabinet said.
On his part, Yasser Othman, the Egyptian Ambassador to Palestine said “we want a clear, strong apology and a pledge to not to repeat such acts in the future.”
In the past few days, the Israeli cabinet refrained from launching a wide-scale offensive against the Gaza Strip saying they fear further deterioration in the relations with Egypt.
Othman added that Egypt had ‘forbidden’ Israel from carrying out a large-scale operation in the Gaza Strip.
In the West Bank, Israeli settlers burned olive trees in the village of Mikhmas near Ramallah Thursday morning. Eyewitnesses said the residents of the village managed to put the fire out however they said that around 100 trees were totally burned.
In the meantime, Israeli military kidnapped five Palestinian residents in the southern part of the West Bank.
Palestinian sources said Israeli troops invaded the city of Hebron in the early morning hours and kidnapped three Palestinians one of them is the wife of the Palestinian prisoner Hussein Qawasmeh. The other two were identified as Ala and Fathi Zghayyar.
Israeli military also invaded the town of Yatta, south of Hebron, and kidnapped Ismael Abu Qbeita 18, and his brother Mahmoud 16, both were taken to unknown destination.
That was some of the news from Palestine Today, for more updates, please visit our website at www.imemc.org. Thank you for joining us. This reports has been brought to you from Occupied Bethlehem, but Hussam Qassis and me, George Rishmawi.
