Palestine Today 071609

Gaza man found dead in an under ground tunnel and the Israeli military kidnaps civilians from the West Bank, these stories and more coming up stay tuned.

The News Cast

A body of a young Palestinian man was found on Thursday in Gaza inside an under ground tunnel connecting the southern town of Rafah with Egypt.

The Palestinian police reported that the man was killed and then his body had been dumped inside the tunnel. The police added that the body was discovered by workers who were moving goods between Egypt and Gaza. Local sources said that the body was moved to a nearby hospital.

Also in Gaza around 200 Americans, the crew of the Viva Palestina aid convoy, met the deposed Palestinian Prime Minister Ismal'el Haniyah, of Hamas.

Haniyah welcomed the crew in Gaza and expressed deep appreciation for their solidarity work. He addressed the religious Jewish participants by saying that Palestinians do not hate Jews but fight the Israeli Zionist occupation.

The Viva Palestina aid convoy of 50 trucks loaded with food and medical supplies, arrived at the Gaza-Egyptian boarders on Wednesday. Later on Wednesday night the Egyptian military only allowed the convoy crew to enter Gaza for 24 hours, with half of the trucks, the rest of the trucks had to stay at the Egyptian side.

On Monday, the caravan members met with British MP George Galloway, who organized the aid campaign. The aid convoy is the second one organized by Galloway. The first convoy successfully brought aid via a truck convoy from the United Kingdom earlier this year.

Israel has placed the Gaza Strip under a strict total siege in June 2007 driving the economy there to the verge of collapse and leaving the Gaza population of 1.5 million Palestinians without basic food, medical and fuel supplies.

In other news Israeli troops kidnapped on Thursday eight Palestinians during pre-dawn invasions of different areas of the West Bank.

The Israeli army said that it raided the areas of Jenin, Nablus, Bethlehem and Jericho. The army pledged in June not to invade Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jericho and Qalqilia anymore. So far this pledge has already been broken numerous times.

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.