Palestine Today 060508

As Palestinians mark the 41st anniversary of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israeli military attacks leave a child and a man killed. These stories and more, coming up. Stay tuned.

The News Cast

On June 5th 1967, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip, the city of Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank. For 41 years, Palestinians have marked this day with protests against the ongoing Israeli occupation of their lands.

Meanwhile, a four-year-old girl has been killed and her mother wounded in an Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip. Another woman was also wounded in the attack, which Israelis authorities reported had targeted Palestinian armed groups. The girl and her mother were outside their house near Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip when a drone aircraft targeted them, shooting a missile, eyewitnesses reported.

Medical sources identified the girl as Aya Al-Manjar, and revealed that her mother was also critically wounded.

On Thursday at midday, one Israeli man was killed and five others wounded after a homemade shell landed in the Israeli town of Nir ‘Oz, in the Negev region of southern Israel, close to the Gaza Strip.

The Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the ruling Hamas party in Gaza, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it came “as a response to the Israeli army attacks against Gaza”.

Also on Thursday morning, several armored Israeli military vehicles invaded the southeastern part of Khan Younis city. Tanks destroyed three Palestinian homes, and large areas of agricultural land, owned by local farmers.

In the West Bank, the Israeli army opened fire at a group of Palestinian gunmen, killing one and injuring two in Hebron’s Old City on Thursday.

Security sources told IMEMC that clashes took place between armed men from two rival Palestinian families, the Al Rajabi and Al Ajloni families, on Thursday, in the old city, adjacent to an illegal Israeli settlement.

The sources added that Israeli troops from a nearby military watchtower opened fire at a group of armed men from the Al Rajabi family, killing one and injuring two. On Wednesday, a 13 year old Palestinian child was killed when similar clashes took place between the rival Al Rajabi and Al Ajloni families in Hebron.

Also near Hebron, five Palestinian civilians were injured by Israeli army fire during an invasion which targeted the village of Beit Omer and Dura on Thursday at midday. Troops also kidnapped two civilians.

The Israeli army conducted a number of invasions, targeting several towns and cities across the West Bank, kidnapping 16 Palestinian civilians before dawn on Thursday.

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.