A Palestinian woman dies due to the Israeli siege on Gaza, while the Israeli army kidnaps six civilians from the West Bank, these stories and more coming up stay tuned.

The News Cast

Palestinian medical sources said that a Palestinian woman died on Tuesday while suffering from a chronic disease that could have been treated had the medicine been available in Gaza. Saousan Al Sultan, 28, had acute Rheumatism and her doctors reported that Sultan died because essential medicine was unavailable in the Gaza Strip due to the siege.

The European Campaign to end the 'Siege' on Gaza issued a report on Monday stating that the 11 month siege of Gaza has caused the deaths of 32 patients in May alone. With Al Sultan's death on Tuesday the current death toll since the start of the siege in June 2007 now stands at 172.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli troops, tanks and bulldozers invaded areas near Dier Al Balah town located in the central part of the Gaza Strip. Witnesses said that tanks and troops stormed areas located near the Kitsofem border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel, they added that local resistance fighters clashed with the invading troops.

The Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas Movement, said that its fighters have managed to injure one Israeli soldier. Israeli army sources said that one soldier was lightly wounded during the clashes that followed the invasion.


In the West Bank, the Israeli army attacked the villages of Dura and Banni Nu'em, located near the city of Hebron on Tuesday at dawn and kidnapped six civilians.

Meanwhile the Israeli army invaded the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem on Tuesday morning, local sources reported.

Witnesses said that Israeli troops surrounded the house of Mohamed Ahmad, searched it, and then left the area without further incident. During the attack witnesses said that troops closed the main road leading to the house, stopped civilian cars and searched them.

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 Ghassan Bannoura and Jane Smith.