One Palestinian was killed, 43 detained in Israeli incursion
Some 162 Palestinian women, 531 children were killed since the beginning of the Intifada. The Israeli forces yesterday intensified acts of incursion and detention in the towns and villages of the West Bank and Gaza and one Palestinian was shot dead, three wounded and more than 40 were arrested..
The Palestinian news agency said "citizen Hassan Badra ( 23 year old) was shot on Wednesday at dawn by the fire of the Israeli forces in Balata camp of the Palestinian refugees in Nablus." The agency added quoting eye witnesses and security sources that the Israeli forces, backed by armored vehicles, and 'sniffing dogs' broke into al-Hashashin area in the southern quarters of the camp and entered Badra's house and killed him in 'cold blood' at the building's stairs."
The Israeli army said that the Palestinian activist is Osama Badra, 27 years old, and that he was killed when an Israeli force tried to arrest him and then he jumped from one house roof to another trying to escape.
The Israeli army and witnesses said that Badra is a member in the People's Army for the Liberation of Palestine. Palestinians said that he recently became active in the Islamic Jihad movement.
The Israeli army announced it had arrested on Tuesday evening 11 persons suspected to belong to the Islamic Jihad during breaking in operations in the West Bank as well as other 21 suspected to be activists.
Meantime, Palestinian witnesses and a security source said that three Palestinians were wounded yesterday by the bullets of the occupation army near an Israeli military barrier to the south of Gaza. A security source in Rafah said "that an Israeli tank positioned near the border with Egypt yesterday opened heavy machine guns fire at al-Barazil quarters in Rafah camp and this resulted in setting fire in the house of the Palestinian Muhammad al-Jaafari. The house was destroyed completely."
In another development, the Palestinian health minister Ahmad al-Sheibi yesterday called on the international community, especially the UN, to pressure Israel to stop killing Palestinian children and women. He said that some 162 Palestinian women and 531 children were killed by the Israeli bullets since the beginning of the Palestinian Intifada in September 2000.
He called for "quickly ensuring an international protection for the Palestinian people," stressing that the number of martyred women was 162, while martyred children was 531 for those under 18 year old killed by the Israeli occupation forces in a cold blood." Al-Sheibi explained that 116 of those women and 226 children were killed between the beginning of January this year and the end of November, adding that "those women and children were the victims of the Israeli tanks shells and helicopters missiles and random fire against Palestinian civilians while carrying out daily life and most of the cases while they are sleeping in their houses."