The Israeli army attack a peaceful protest in the West Bank, and in Gaza, a homemade shell injures a Palestinian worker. These stories and more coming up, stay tuned.

The News Cast

Two Palestinian civilians were injured, and another abducted, when the Israeli army attacked a peaceful protest organized by the villagers of Na'alen, west of the central West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday at midday.

The villagers of Na'alen, accompanied by international and Israeli protesters were demonstrating against the illegal Israeli wall currently under construction on the village lands.

The protesters report that the army attacked them with tear gas and rubber-coated-steel bullets. Two were injured, and Mohamed Amera, a local activist was detained without charge by the army, and taken to an undisclosed detention facility.

Israeli military sources allege that protesters instigated the violence, hurling stones at the soldiers. Eyewitness reports state that troops opened fire without reason, and that the protest had otherwise been peaceful.

On Wednesday at dawn, Palestinian sources reported that 13 Palestinian civilians were abducted during Israeli attacks which targeted several areas of the West Bank.

The sources revealed that operations took place in Nablus, Tulkarem, Jenin, and Hebron. Eight of the ten kidnapped were taken during an Israeli military invasion of Jenin and nearby villages. All were taken without criminal charge to undisclosed detenton facilities.

In the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the Israeli army ordered the full closure of the Nahal ‘Oz fuel terminal, east of Gaza City, after a homemade shell landed on a Palestinian-run fuel store, adjacent to the terminal.

Mahmoud Al-Khuzendar, deputy-chairman of the Gaza fuel station society, confirmed that the Israeli authorities had closed the Nahal ‘Oz terminal, the main artery of fuel into Gaza, and that Israeli fuel companies had stopped shipping fuel into the Palestinian coastal region.

Al-Khuzendar told media outlets in Gaza that the Israeli decision came immediately after a Palestinian homemade shell landed on a fuel store near the terminal, causing critical injury to a Palestinian worker.

The Hamas-administered ministry of the interior stated to press that the targeting of fuel pipe lines which channel fuel and essential gas into Gaza, is “irresponsible and aimless”.

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 George Rishmawi.