Man Killed By Israeli Army in Gaza

Tuesday March 01, 2011 12:47 by David Steele - 1 of International Middle East Media Center Editorial Group

The Israeli occupation army killed a man who entered the 300-meter 'buffer zone' in Gaza on Monday.

The army spokesperson claimed that troops opened fire aiming for the lower torso of the man. He later died from his injuries. It is unclear whether a warning was given. Israel enforces a 300m 'buffer zone' along the Gaza border, which is surrounded by a large wall. Palestinians who enter the 'buffer zone' risk being shot. Many Palestinians claim that they are shot at from over 500 meters away. The zone exists on Palestinian land – much of it confiscated from locals.

IOF troops raid southern Gaza, settler runs over 5-year-old child

 [ 01/03/2011 - 09:45 AM ]

KHAN YOUNIS, (PIC)--

 Israeli occupation forces (IOF) advanced hundreds of meters into Qarara town east of Khan Younis, to the south of the Gaza Strip, on Tuesday and bulldozed farmland.

Local sources told the PIC reporter that IOF troops in eight armored vehicles escorted four military bulldozers while damaging Palestinian land.

The sources said that the IOF soldiers were firing intermittently, but no casualties were so far reported.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank, a Jewish settler deliberately ran over 5-year-old Palestinian child Qutaiba Al-Rajabi on Monday in the vicinity of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Al-Khalil.

Local sources said that the settler ran over the child near his family home and sped away without helping the child. Medical sources in hospital said that the child's injuries were moderate.

IOF troops round up 5 West Bankers, 180 in February

 01/03/2011 - 08:13 AM ]

WEST BANK, (PIC)--

 Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up five Palestinian citizens in various West Bank areas at dawn Tuesday, the Israeli radio reported. It quoted an IOF spokesman as saying that the detainees were wanted for questioning. Meanwhile, the Palestinian prisoner society said in a report that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained more than 180 Palestinians, most of them children and women, from different West Bank areas during February.

 The society affirmed that 16 physical abuse incidents were documented during the month, where Israeli soldiers were reportedly assaulted children with their feet, hands, rifle butts, and batons. The report also pointed to the Israeli policy of medical neglect pursued against patients imprisoned in Ramle and Ofer jails 37 female prisoners are in Israeli jails, two of them called Abeer Odah and Maryam Tarabin are locked up in solitary confinement, the report said.

Army Invades al-Qarara, Uproots Farmlands

Tuesday March 01, 2011 11:15 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Israeli soldiers invaded, Tuesday morning, the town of al-Qarara, east of Khan Younis in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, and uprooted farmlands.

File - Army Tanks And Bulldozers Invading Gaza - Image fpnp.net

Local sources reported that eight armored military vehicles, including four armored bulldozers, advanced nearly 300 meters into the area and uprooted trees and lands east of al-Qarara.

The military vehicles and bulldozers were stationed at the Kissufim military camp adjacent to the border with southern Gaza.

Sources added that the army fired rounds of live ammunition into the area during the invasion, and that more rounds of live ammunition were fired by the army after the invasion was carried out.

Report: “Israel To Carry Out Specified Attacks Against Gaza”

Tuesday March 01, 2011 11:43 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The Israeli Radio reported, Monday, that the Israeli Army intends to carry out specified and targeted attacks against certain areas in the Gaza Strip without conducting a direct confrontation or ground invasions at the current stage.

The Radio said that the attacks will include targeting resistance groups, weapon storage facilities, the siege-busting tunnels in Rafah, and some measures that would limit the transfer of money into Gaza.

Also, officials in Tel Aviv contacted the Egyptian side informing them the some strikes might target locations across the border between Gaza and Egypt, adding that “Israel is concerned about what is happening across the border following the latest protests in Egypt that toppled the regime of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

The officials said that Israel will not allow any threat to its security, even if this issue would lead to a massive invasion into the Gaza Strip especially after Grad missiles were reportedly fired last week from Gaza into Nativot and Be’er Sheva.

On Saturday, Israeli sources reported that the Israeli Air Force fired, on Thursday, a missile at a Palestinian car in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, and claimed that the car carried a bag loaded with money that was on its way to Hamas movement.

The bag was reportedly smuggled into Gaza via one of the siege-busting tunnels in Rafah. Israeli Radio reported that the car was targeted after a grad missile was fired into Be’er Sheva.

Israel claims that some armed groups in Gaza, especially groups affiliated with the Hamas movement, received military training in other countries, mainly in Iran, and that these groups are trying to test the power of the Israeli army amidst the current changes in the Arab world, and the collapse of Arab regimes that had open or discrete relations with Israel.

Israel fears that the protests in some Arab countries could spread across the entire Arab world, and would eventually lead to Arab leaderships that are more supportive of the Palestinians and their cause.

Silwan Residents Injured by Israeli Gunfire Over Weekend\

Monday February 28, 2011 16:28 by Ramona - IMEMC & Agencies

This weekend saw a continuation of clashes in Silwan, a neighborhood in East Jerusalem targeted for Israeli expansion, leaving many Palestinians injured.

On Friday, a young Palestinian man from Silwan, was seriously injured when violent clashes erupted while Silwan residents were preparing for prayer.

A man arrived at an unnamed Jerusalem hospital seriously wounded by a rubber bullet fired by Israeli forces during clashes. The bullet was lodged in the young man’s spine and his condition was described as serious.

Clashes were sparked by the firing of tear gas by Israeli forces at Palestinian residents preparing for the weekly public prayer in the Al-Bustan protest tent.

Violent clashes resurged in Silwan on Saturday, February 26, with Israeli forces firing round after round of tear gas and rubber bullets at Palestinian demonstrators.

On Saturday, twenty Palestinian residents were injured by rubber bullets. Three paramedics were also injured.Eyewitness accounts report that Israeli forces ambushed a number of young demonstrators.