Two Palestinians die in Gaza due to the Israeli siege while in the West Bank the Israeli army kidnaps 17 civilians, these stories and more coming up. Stay tuned.

The News Cast

Palestinian medical sources announced that Saif Eldin aLshewaiki, 39, and Mohammad aL-Hamarna, 70, of the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, died today after Israeli authorities prevented them from receiving medical care outside of Gaza. The Palestinian Death toll resulting from the Israeli denial of permits to people requiring medical care outside of the Gaza strip now stands at 121.

Israel has placed Gaza under total Siege since June 2007. The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza warned of a humanitarian crisis there on Wednesday, because of continued Israeli closure on the coastal territory.

In a statement faxed to the press, the ministry said that thousands of patients increasingly risk death as a result of the frequent power outages in Gaza. Israeli actions include cutting off fuel supplies, needed for hospitals and ambulances. In October 2007 Israel intensified its siege on Gaza including cutting off fuel supplies to Gaza's 1.5 million residents.

An Israeli army force entered the northern Gaza Strip city of Beit Hanoun early on Wednesday morning, kidnapping three civilians. Witnesses said that Israeli forces ransacked residents' houses, before kidnapping the three civilians and leaving the area.

Meanwhile at least 17 Palestinian civilians were kidnapped by Israeli troops as the army attacked several West Bank cities on Wednesday morning. The kidnappings were reported in the cities of Tulkarem, Nablus, Jenin and Bethlehem.

The Israeli police demolished the Hamdan family house on Wednesday. The Hamdan family is a Palestinian family living in Anata, a Palestinian neighborhood in the city of Jerusalem.

Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, an Israeli human rights group, finished rebuilding the house in July 2007 after it was first demolished in December 2005. The Israeli municipality of Jerusalem says that the house was built without legal permission, which has rarely been given to Palestinians since Israel occupied the eastern part of Jerusalem in 1967.

Professor Jeff Halper, founder and co-coordinator of Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, arrived at the scene and tied himself to the house to prevent the police from leveling the building; officers arrested him and released him several hours later after the house was destroyed.

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 has been brought to you by Fouad Al-Zir and Ghassan Bannoura.