Palestine Today 111009

Wednesday November 11, 2009 02:38 by Audio Dept. - IMEMC News

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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www.imemc.org, for Tuesday November 10th, 2009.

The Israeli military kidnaps eight civilians from the West Bank and The Military chief opens probe on war crimes for the January attack on Gaza. These stories and more coming up stay tuned.

News Cast

Eight Palestinian civilians were kidnapped on Tuesday by Israeli troops during invasions targeting a number of West Bank communities.

Local sources said Israeli troops searched and ransacked homes in the villages of Bit Ommar and Dura, as well as Al Fawwar Refugee camp near the southern West Bank city of Hebron and kidnapped six men.

Meanwhile two Palestinian youth were kidnapped by Israeli troops during house searches in Al Raam town central West Bank and Jericho city, in the Jordan valley.

The Israeli army radio reported that those kidnapped were taken to military detention camps for questioning.

In other News, Gabi Ashkenazi, Senior commander of the Israeli army, said on Tuesday that the military are conducting investigations into possible war crimes during the January attack on Gaza.

Ashkenazi told Israeli media that the army's criminal investigation division is in the midst of checking 45 complaints by Palestinians. He also called upon Palestinians to come forth and testify. According to the military chief 60 Palestinians have delivered their testimonies, so far.

The Israeli offensive, doped Cast Lead, started on December 27th 2008 and ended on January 18, 2009.

The Israeli army commander defended his troops against the UN-commissioned Goldstone report last month which accused Israeli as well as the Hamas movement which controls Gaza of committing war crimes. Ashkenazi said “he is not leading an army of criminals.”

Ashkenazi admitted that during the 23-day long offensive, troops may have hurt civilians as well as Israeli soldiers due to the nature of the Gaza Strip.

Cast Lead offensive claimed the lives of at least 1,500 Palestinians and left 6,000 others injured, the attack also left a devastating damage to the infra structure of the Gaza Strip. In addition, 16 Israelis, 14 soldiers, and two civilians were killed during the operation.

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.

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