Palestine Today 071708

Thursday July 17, 2008 17:53 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC - Audio Dept.

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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www.imemc.org, for Thursday July 17th, 2008.

In Gaza, death toll reaches 209, while a Palestinian home was demolished in Jerusalem. These stories and more coming up, stay tuned.

The News cast

In the Gaza Strip the death toll reached 209 as a Palestinian 6 year old child died on Thursday morning of a kidney failure, since he was banned from leaving the Gaza Strip to receive medical treatment because The Gaza Strip has been under siege since June 2007.

Last month both Israel and Palestinian Resistance factions in Gaza agreed to a truce, after long Egyptian mediation efforts. The deal stipulates that Hamas will stop the firing of homemade shells into Israeli territory in exchange for Israel lifting the 12 month-blockade and ceasing all military attacks against the Coastal Region.

On Thursday at dawn, in the City of Jerusalem, Israeli forces backed by a bulldozer stormed and demolished the home of Ahmad Al A'rameen in Al Ezariye neighborhood in Jerusalem City.

Witnesses said that Israeli troops attacked Ahmad, his wife and his five sons and beat them up. The wife and three sons sustained fractions and bruises while the army kidnapped two of Ahmad's sons after demolishing the house.

The Israeli army says that the home was built without the needed permission. Since Israel occupied Jerusalem in 1967 it has rarely given its Palestinian residents any form of documentation for their land or homes.

Continuing our News coverage, in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, the Israeli army invaded on Thursday at dawn Balata Camp. The army opened fire randomly at residents' homes, lightly injuring two civilians.

Moreover, the Israeli army invaded the nearby Askar refugee camp, kidnapping 12 civilians; six of them from the same family

Other army attacks were reported in the West Bank cities of Jenin, Ramallah and Hebron, no kidnappings were reported.

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 Hussam Qassis.

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