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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Monday, June 8th, 2015.
Israeli troops invade West Bank communities and storm a hospital, meanwhile Israel closes all border crossing leading to Gaza. These stories, and more, coming up, stay tuned.
Undercover units of the Israeli military invaded, on Monday at dawn, the Beit Jala governmental hospital in the West Bank district of Bethlehem, and attempted to kidnap two wounded Palestinians receiving treatment there. Medical sources said the two wounded Palestinians were shot by army fire, on Sunday at night, close to the District Coordination Office (DCO), on the western entrance of Beit Jala city.
The sources added that resident Mo’tasem Nabil Shweiki, 21 years of age, was shot with a live round to his right shoulder, and Mahmoud ‘Emad Shweiki, 18, was shot also with a live round, in his right thigh. The two are still receiving treatment in the hospital; the army withdrew after failing to abduct them.
Elsewhere, Israeli soldiers kidnapped, on Monday at dawn, five Palestinians in different parts of the occupied West Bank, while another resident was kidnapped, on Sunday evening, near Bethlehem. Moreover, Israeli forces detained eight Palestinians across the occupied West Bank on Sunday at dawn.
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities, on Monday, closed Erez and Kerem Shalom border crossings into costal region, citing “security reasons”. The closure came shortly after Israeli airstrikes hit several targets in the coastal enclave, following a rocket attack on Saturday night that an extremist Salafi group, claimed responsibility for. No injuries were reported on either side.
The Palestinian Authority’s director of border crossings, Nathmi Muhanna, confirmed that occupation authorities had notified them on Sunday morning of their decision to close the crossings. Even when the crossings are open, however, movement of goods and people is severely restricted as part of a crippling Israeli military blockade in place since 2007.
In other news, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has allocated an additional NIS 100 million and ten government positions to the fight against BDS.
Israeli news sources reports that Netanyahu held consultations about BDS this weekend with relevant government officials, as well as Minister Gilad Erdan, who is responsible for dealing with BDS in the framework of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs.
Erdan told Israeli media that the fight against BDS must take place on three levels: government offices, the intelligence community and the defense system. Netanyahu agreed with Erdan that at least an additional NIS 100 million will be allocated to the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, almost all of it dedicated to the fight against BDS.
And that’s all for today from the IMEMC News; this was the Monday, June 8th, 2015 news round-up from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. For more news and updates, please visit our website at www.imemc.org. Today’s report has been brought to you by George Rishmawi and Ghassan Bannoura.
