The Israeli army kills a Palestinian civilian in the Gaza Strip and another in the West Bank. These stories and more coming up, stay tuned.

The News Cast

The Israeli army killed a Palestinian resident in the southern Gaza Strip early Thursday morning, the first Palestinian causality since Israel and Palestinian resistance factions agreed to a ceasefire three weeks ago. The Israeli army confirmed that the soldiers, manning the Kussofim commercial crossing in the southern Gaza Strip spotted and shot dead a Palestinian man this morning. The areas adjacent to the crossing are agricultural and are inhabited by dozens of Palestinian farmers.

This causality is the first since the ruling Hamas party and Israel agreed to a ceasefire deal on June 19, 2008. Israel has recently informed the Egyptian mediators who brokered the ceasefire that the army would shoot at any moving object which happens to be 300 meters away from its border lines with Gaza.

In the West Bank city of Jenin, undercover forces of the Israeli army assassinated Talal Sa’id Abed, 32 years old, on Wednesday evening. He was one of the leaders of Abu Ammar Brigades, one of the offshoots of the Fateh movement, in Kufr Dan Village, west of Jenin city.

Eyewitnesses reported that undercover forces ambushed Abed and intercepted his vehicle. After he was wounded, the forces abducted him and barred Palestinian ambulances and medics from reaching him. Eyewitnesses reported that Abed remained on the ground bleeding heavily before the undercover forces placed him in their vehicle and sped away. The army announced his death several hours later in an Israeli hospital.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the central West Bank city of Ramallah reported that the Israeli army attacked the Ramallah public hospital on Thursday at dawn and ransacked it. During the search witnesses said that soldiers destroyed equipment and doors.

In Nablus Israeli troops kidnapped two civilians and ransacked local NGO's. The Israeli army stormed Nablus city and searched a number of local NGOs that provide charitable aid to Nablus area residents. Local sources said that in addition, troops took a school bus that belonged to the Islamic school in the city. Also today the Israeli army demolished two Palestinian-owned homes and kidnapped seven civilians during separate attacks targeting the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Thursday.

Israeli forces surrounded two homes that belong to the Karamah family located in the Hebron city center on Thursday morning. Witnesses said that troops forced the family out, then demolished the two homes. Ied Karamah told reporters that his mother Mirfat sustained bruises and had to be moved to the hospital along with another family member after the soldiers attacked them.

Earlier on Thursday at dawn the Israeli army attacked and searched a number of homes in downtown Hebron. During the search, the army kidnapped six civilians and took them to unknown detention camps. Local sources in the city reported that the soldiers damaged the homes they searched in addition to one car.

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 Andrew Chappelle and Ghassan Bannoura.