The Israeli army kills 10 Palestinians in Gaza and kidnaps 50 civilians from the West Bank, these stories and more coming up stay tuned.

The News Cast

Palestinian sources reported that at least four Palestinian civilians including two children were killed and another five injured when Israeli tanks shelled a Palestinian homes located in the eastern part of Gaza city.

The Israeli tanks rolled into the eastern part of Gaza city and started to randomly shell residents' homes after two Israelis were killed when a group of Palestinian resistance fighters attacked the Nahal Oz crossing and the nearby fuel depot, located on the eastern Israeli Gaza borders.

Sources in Gaza indicated that the number casualties may increase as the Israeli invasion of Gaza city is currently ongoing.

On Wednesday midday, five Palestinian patients died on after the Israeli army prevented them from leaving the coastal region. The five have being suffering from chronic illnesses for months, doctor said they have been attempting to get them out of Gaza for months to get the life saving medical care they require, but the army refused their applications for exit permits.

These deaths bring the number of Palestinian patients who died in Gaza due to the Israeli siege to 130, with reports of many more facing a risk of death due to the Western backed Israeli siege. The Israeli army has placed the Gaza Strip under total siege since June 2007, leaving the 1.5 Gazans lacking fuel, medicine, food, and water.

Earlier on Wednesday morning one Israeli soldier and one Palestinian resistance fighter were killed in clashes between Palestinian resistance fighters and Israeli troops invading the southern part of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army spokesperson reported that two other soldiers were mildly wounded during the clashes.

In the West Bank the Israeli army invaded several cities and towns and kidnapped 50 Palestinians civilians on Wednesday at dawn.

The sources said that the kidnappings took place in the cities of Nablus, Qalqilia and Tulkarem in the north, Hebron and Bethlehem in the south and Ramallah in the central part of the West Bank. 25 of the 50 kidnapped today were taken during a pre-dawn invasion targeting the city of Nablus and nearby refugee camps.

Eyewitnesses in Nablus said that Israeli troops used them as human shields during the attack today. On October 6, 2005, the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled that it was illegal for the army to use Palestinian civilians during military actions.

The decision was made on a petition that B'Tselem: Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories and six other human rights organizations filed in 2002.

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.