1,Tulkarem-West Bank
2,Rafah- Gaza Strip
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1.Tulkarem: Israeli Army Invades Tulkarem Refugee Camp; Stand-Off
Outside Hospital

In the small hours of this morning the Israeli Army and border
police invaded Tulkarem Refugee Camp with attack helicopters, tanks,
APCs, hummers (special forces vehicles) and hundreds of soldiers and
border policemen. After taking control of the camp, they began to
round up the camp's entire male population between the ages of 15
and 45. At dawn the men were marched in groups to the Tulkarem
Refugee Camp's School for Girls where they were held until for
varying periods of time before being taken away in trucks. It seems
that the majority of the men were taken to the Nur Shams Refugee
Camps about 1.5 kilometres from Tulkarem Refugee Camp, where they
were dumped in the streets and forbidden to return to their homes
for three days.

Following the abductions, the soldiers began ransacking the houses
of the Refugee Camp. Unlike their "house searches" in Nablus, which
were carried out in a systematic, house-to-house manner, these seem
to have been conducted at random, making it difficult for the ISM to
anticipate where the vandals would strike next.

In spite of this, the eight ISM activists (from Ireland, the US,
Germany and Occupied Palestine) did their best to monitor Israeli
activities in the Refugee Camp and moderate their brutality through
negotiation. On several occasions the border policemen threatened
to arrest the activists unless they left the area and on one
occasion a soldier forcibly stole a hand-held video camera that the
activists were using to film the invasion. The camera was later
returned to the activists but its video tape confiscated on the
orders of the soldier's commanding officer, with whom he
communicated by radio. The soldier who stole the tape claimed to be
Moshe Cohen of the Golani Division.

In the afternoon Israeli border policemen entered the Thabbat
Thabbat Hospital in Tulkarem City and bashed one of its visitors in
front ot the ISM activists before dragging him away. About half an
hour later they announced on loudspeakers that all men must leave
the hospital and surrender themselves into their custody
immediately. The ISM activists who were in the hospital then went
out to insist that this would constitute a war crime and they had no
right to round up hospital patients under the Geneva Convention.

The border policemen then claimed that one of the cars parked
outside the hospital was stolen from Israel and they suspected that
it had a bomb in it. They said that they intended to blow the car
up and would have to evacuate the hospital before doing so.

The ISM activists refused to be taken in by this obvious lie and
refused to leave the hospital.

The standoff between the ISM and the border police continued for
about three and a half hours with the border police stopping cars
and ambulances that were trying to enter and leave the hospital and
threatening to blow up the car while the ISM activists refused to
leave and contacted the Hamoked and Physicians for Human Rights
Groups, which demanded that the border police respect the hospital's
status.

At 8.10 pm the border police abandoned their blocade of the hospital
but threatened to return tomorrow

Tonight the Tulkarem Refugee Camp is still under Occupation and both
the camp and Tulkarem City are under curfew.

An estimated five thousand men were abducted from Tulkarem Refugee
Camp today and, except for a handful who managed to evade capture,
the camp is now empty of males between the ages of 15 and 45.
.
For futher information contact:
Charlotte on +972 52 371 338 or
Radhika on +972 52 574 754


Rafah: Israeli's Invade

At about 9.30 this evening a large Israeli force of tanks,
bulldozers and armoured personnel carriers backed by attack
helicopters began their invasion of Rafah, with the bulldozers
clearing the way for the other vehicles.

The seven ISM activists in Rafah (from the US and the UK) were
staying in houses in danger of demolition by the Israeli Occupation
forces when the invasion began. They are monitoring the invasion
from the houses in which they are staying and report seeing several
missiles fired from helicopters followed by explosions and hearing
the sirens of Palestinian ambulances. They also report that the
city has been shaken by several powerful explosions, including one
that is presumed to be the sound of a mosque being dynamited and
that the tanks are firing their main guns sporadically.

Electricity has been cut off to Rafah so the activists are
minimising their mobile phone usage.

For further information contact:
Joe on +972 67 628 507 or
Alice on +972 67 857 049