The Israeli army killed Seven Palestinians in the Gaza strip and kidnapped nine others from several parts in the West Bank, these stories and more coming up stay tuned.

The news cast

Early on Wednesday the Israeli army killed six Palestinians and injured eleven others in a fresh Israeli ground offensive on eastern Gaza City. This attack occurred early on Wednesday morning, when Israeli tanks, stationed on the Gaza-Israel border, rolled into the nearby neighborhood, to the east of Gaza City, witnesses said. Al Qassam brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, claimed that three of its members have been killed during an Israeli shelling east of the Gaza city.

Another Israeli army shelling from the air caused the death of two resistance fighters of the Popular Resistance committee's armed wing. The sixth killed, was a resistance fighter for the Al-Aqsa brigades of Fatah, and was killed during a later clash with Israeli army undercover units, that were deployed on the outskirts of Gaza city later on in the day.

Meanwhile Palestinian medical sources reported that a Palestinian woman died on Wednesday because she was not allowed by the Israeli army to leave the Gaza strip for medical treatment. Miryam Judah, 32, had breast cancer. Judah is the 61st person who has died of a chronic illness since Israel placed the Gaza Strip under total siege in June 2007. Among those 61 were children, the youngest was Do'a Habib, who was five months old.

The first batch of Palestinian pilgrims, who have been stranded in Egypt for the past week, began flowing into Gaza Strip on Wednesday. The standoff, which started last week, came to an end today following efforts by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the 'deposed' Prime Minister, Ismail Haniya, with the relevant Egyptian authorities.

In the West Bank the Israeli army kidnapped nine Palestinians during morning invasions that targeted several towns and villages, Palestinian sources reported. On Wednesday after noon a group of 50 Palestinian, Israeli and international Human Rights activists gathered at Har Homa settlement, known to Palestinians as Abu Ghinim settlement, which is built on land illegally taken by the Israeli army from the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem. The non violent action was organized by the Israeli communist party.

Har Huma was built on land illegally taken in 1995 from its Palestinian owners who lived in the city of Bethlehem; Israeli annexed the land to the city of Jerusalem which it has continued to occupy since 1967. Today the protest reached the main gates of the settlement, protesters held signs demanding the halt of construction inside this settlement, Israeli police were present but did not intervene to stop the protest.

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. this report brought to you by Caroline Jones and Ghassan Bannoura.