The Israeli military invaded today the eastern parts of Rafah city in southern Gaza as the Israeli troops detained scores of Palestinian residents from various West Bank areas. This news and more are coming up, stay tuned.

Israeli troops invaded earlier today the southern parts of the Gaza Strip, just east of Rafah city. The troops, accompanied with bulldozers, razed some arable lands in the area.

The Alqassam brigades, the armed wing of the ruling Hamas party in Gaza, announced its fighters defended the invaded area with firing homemade shells onto the Israel troops.

Israeli officials, including the prime minister, the foreign minister and the defense minister, had earlier warned of the possibility that the Israeli army would carry out a large military offensive on Gaza to rein in what Israel says homemade shells launchers from Gaza into nearby Israeli areas.

Meanwhile, the Hamas party has declared that the ball now is in the Israeli court regarding an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire deal with Israel, stating it is still considering such a truce deal.

In the West Bank, the Israeli troops invaded the Alfawar refugee camp near Hebron city , detaining 12 Palestinain residents, as the Israeli military detained several others in other parts of the West Bank including the Nablus city.

Palestinian security sources reveled that those detained on Tuesday reached a total of 32.

In the meantime, spokesman of the British government, Mr. Jon Wilks, said in a press conference in Ramallah that the Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal and constitute a stumbling block in the path of regional peace

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 Rami Al-Meghari, and Husam Qassis