A Palestinian patient has died in Gaza due to the ongoing Israeli siege while military bulldozers destroyed farming huts in the West Bank, these stories and more coming up, stay tuned.

The News Cast

A Palestinian man was reported dead on Wednesday after he was unable to leave the Gaza Strip for life saving medical care.

Omer Attallah, 42, years old had kidney failure, medical sources reported. The Israeli military imposed a crippling siege on the Gaza Strip in June 2007, leaving the 1.5 million Palestinians living there without access to basic supplies.

Gaza hospitals have reached the point where they can no longer treat their patients.

The Palestinian minister of health in Gaza said that with the death of Attallah the number of patients who have died due to the Israeli siege now stands at 344. Attallah is the fourth patient to die this week.

On Monday three patients among them a 7month old baby were reported dead as a result of the siege.

In other news Israeli bulldozers have demolished 15 animal barns and 3 shacks in the Jordan Valley near the Israeli settlement of Masquin on Wednesday morning.

The demolished structures were owned by Palestinian farmers from the Ein Al-Hilwa village. The army gave no reason for the demolition.

Elsewhere least a dozen Palestinian families in various parts of East Jerusalem received demolition orders on Wednesday.

According to the Israeli municipality the homes were built without the required building permission. Since last week the Israeli municipality has forced four families to demolish parts of their homes because they lacked the required permission.

Israel occupied the East Jerusalem in 1967, since then it has rarely given Palestinian residents permissions to build homes or add to the old ones, meanwhile it continues to build Israeli settlements in and around Jerusalem, an act that is illegal under international law.

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.