Palestine Today 012809

The Israeli army attacks the Gaza borders, and demolish a home in Jerusalem in the West Bank, these stories and more coming up stay tuned.

The News Cast

On Wednesday at dawn, Israeli warplanes bombarded the Gaza-Egypt border, destroying a number of underground tunnels used by Palestinians to bring in essential goods and commodities from Egypt while Israel continues the closure of all border crossings that has lasted for 20 months. Witnesses said that the warplanes fired three missiles toward the border area and that some damage was inflicted to some nearby Palestinian-owned houses.

A spokesperson of the Israeli army confirmed that the Israeli air raids on the area came in response to Tuesday's blast of a military jeep on the southeastern Gaza-Israel border, where one Israeli soldier was killed and three others were injured.

On Tuesday, the Israeli army tanks moved into Palestinian areas close to the location of the blast, meanwhile military bulldozers razed vast areas of Palestinian-owned lands. Immediately after the explosion, caused by a roadside bomb, an Israeli drone fired a missile toward a motorcyclist in the southern Khan Younis town, wounding him severely.

On Wednesday morning, in the West Bank, Israeli military bulldozers demolished a Palestinian owned flat, located in the Silwan neighborhood in Jerusalem city.

The flat is the home of Talal Al Shoki and his eight family members. Local sources said that this is the second time his flat was demolished by the Israeli military. Witnesses said that Israeli troops and a bulldozer arrived in the area, early in the morning, and forced the family out, and then demolished the walls of the flat.

The Israeli authorities say that the flat was built without the required planning permission. Since Israel occupied the city of Jerusalem in 1967, Palestinian residents have rarely been given permission to build homes, all the while funding and building hundreds of homes in illegal settlements in and around the city of Jerusalem.

Ahmad AL Rowidi, the head of Jerusalem affairs in the Palestinian President office was at the scene, he told reporters that the Israeli authorities are planning to demolish 100 Palestinian homes in several parts of Jerusalem this year.

Also in the News, Israeli army forces continued on Wednesday to kidnap Palestinian civilians during pre-dawn invasions in the West Bank. 11 civilians where kidnapped today during army invasions targeting the cities of Hebron, Ramallah and Jenin.

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.