In the West Bank, Israeli forces kidnap 14 civilians across the region. In the Gaza Strip meanwhile, the Israeli Finance Minister urges the World Bank to suspend all activities in the coastal region. These stories and more coming up. Stay tuned.

The West Bank

Palestinian security sources reported Tuesday morning that the Israeli army had invaded several areas of the West Bank in pre-dawn raids, kidnapping at 14 Palestinian civilians.
In the northern west bank city of Jenin, two Palestinian resistance fighters were killed when the Israeli army invaded in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Nine Palestinians, including three brothers, were also kidnapped in the invasion. Elsewhere, a total of five Palestinian civilians were kidnapped from Nablus, Bethlehem and Hebron.
Later on Tuesday, The Israeli army attacked a peaceful demonstration organized by the families of political detainees to protest against the recent events in the Negev detention facility. Soldiers showered the protest with tear gas and sound bombs, and several people were admitted to hospital for gas inhalation. Later in the afternoon, Israeli soldiers provoked local school-children, chasing them down with jeeps. Israeli jeeps also almost hit IMEMC's cameraman Ghassan Bannoura, in an attempt to prevent him from documenting events.

Around 11,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention centers on Tuesday announced a one-day hunger strike to protest against Monday's events in the Negev detention center which left one detainee, Mohammad Al Ashkar, dead, and at least 50 others injured.

The Gaza Strip

An Israeli air strike on Tuesday afternoon killed a member of the Popular Resistance Committees as the man drove along a coastal road in the region. Eyewitnesses to the attack indicated that a missile completely destroyed the car. The Israeli army confirmed the attack, but refused to give further details.

A Jordanian News Network on Tuesday announced that the deposed Hamas government in Gaza has signed an agreement with Egyptian security officials to bring an end to the smuggling of weapons through tunnels in the Rafah area of the southern Gaza Strip. The network reported that the agreement was signed under the understanding that Palestinians would be allowed access to Egypt for educational and medical purposes.

The Hamas government, for its part, denied the accuracy of the report stating that they would continue to resist until the occupation fell.

In a meeting with World Bank President Robert Zoellick on Monday, Israeli Finance Minister Roni Bar-On urged the body to cease all projects in the Gaza Strip. Suggesting that the World Bank should cooperate with so-called moderates, Bar-on stated that "there is no room to include Hamas in this framework."

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, brought to you by John Smith and Ghassan Bannoura.