Palestine Today 030209

Five Palestinians killed in Gaza and two injured in the West Bank as army invaded a number of cities, these stories and more coming up stay tuned.

The News Cast

Five Palestinians died late on Sunday when a tunnel collapsed on them due to heavy rain, Palestinian medical sources reported. The tunnel is located at the Rafah-Egypt border in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. A medical source at Abu Yousef Al Najjar Hospital in Rafah said that the bodies of five residents were taken to hospital. A Palestinian man died on Saturday in a similar accident in Rafah.

The International Solidarity for Human Rights group reported on Monday that the Israeli army killed 23 Palestinians including four children and three women in February. Eighteen residents died in the Gaza Strip, most of them from wounds sustained during the latest Israeli offensive, while five residents were killed in the West Bank.

On Monday in the West Bank, the Israeli army kidnapped eight civilians during early morning invasions. Local sources said that Israeli troops kidnapped five from Ramallah city and three from Nablus.

Also on Monday near Nablus, a local doctor, Amer Mansour, received treatment after inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli troops in the village of Kafer Qaliel. Witnesses said that Israeli soldiers stormed the village in the morning and fire tear gas and local homes.

The Palestinian Political detainees Society issued a report on Monday stating that the Israeli military have kidnapped 292 Palestinians during the month of February.

Of those 292 kidnapped, 35 were sick; 59 were children and 4 women, the report said.

In related news, Palestinian farmers from the Jordan valley reported on Monday that a Palestinian farmer was attacked by wild pigs. The farmers said that Ayman Ibraheem was attacked while working on his land and was taken to a hospital in Nablus for treatment.

The farmers blame settlers for such attacks. They say that the Israeli settlers release wild pigs to drive Palestinian farmers away from their lands in order to take over them.

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 Mary Arthur and Ghassan Bannoura.