Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Monday, July 4, 2016.
Four Palestinians injured during invasions targeting West Bank communities, meanwhile the Israeli government approve hundreds of homes in illegal settlements. These stories, and more, coming up, stay tuned.
Israeli soldiers shot and injured, on Monday at dawn at least four Palestinians during a military invasion into the Qalandia refugee camp, north of occupied Jerusalem, after dozens of Israeli army vehicles invaded it, and demolished homes of two slain Palestinians.
Dozens of army vehicles and jeeps invaded the refugee camp, and demolished the two Palestinian homes after forcing their families, and all families living near them, to leave their properties.
The demolished homes belong to the families of Anan Abu Habsa and Issa Assaf, who were killed on December 24, 2015, after carrying out a stabbing attack in Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said the soldiers shot four Palestinians with live fire, and that one of them suffered a serious gunshot wound in his back, during clashes that took place after the soldiers invaded the camp, and demolished the two homes.
Moreover, The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) has reported that Israeli soldiers kidnapped, overnight and on Monday at dawn, at least 34 Palestinians, in different parts of the occupied West Bank, including 17 Palestinians from occupied East Jerusalem, and eight in Hebron. Among the kidnapped are twin brothers, only 12 years of age, from Jerusalem.
In other news, the Israeli Cabinet approved the expansion of several Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, adding an additional 800 new units to the existing thousands of units constructed in Jewish-only settlements in direct contravention of international law.
Israeli officials say that the approval of 800 new housing units is meant to somehow ‘balance’ the implementation of a court ruling that 600 construction permits be approved for Palestinian families in Beit Safafa.
But while the Israeli officials may have political reasons for making such a claim, Palestinian analysts point out that there is no legal justification or comparison between the court decision about Beit Safafa and the announcement Sunday of the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements constructed on illegally-seized Palestinian land.
And that’s all for today from the IMEMC News; this was the Monday, July 4, 2016, news round-up from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. From more news and updates, please visit our website at www.imemc.org Today’s report has been brought to you by George Rishmawi and me Ghassan Bannoura.
