Day: 14 September 2021

RAMALLAH, Israeli forces today detained at least 23 Palestinians, including a father of a cancer-stricken child, from various parts of the occupied territories, according to Palestinian security sources.

They said that Israeli forces rounded up nine Palestinians from the southern West Bank district of Hebron.

One of the nine detainees was identified as 37-year-old father-of-four, Hijazi Qawasmeh, whose eldest son, Ahmad, 11, suffers from cancer.

An image went viral on social media showing Hijazi bidding farewell to his cancer-stricken son as heavily-armed Israeli soldiers raided his house in the middle of the night in Hebron and took him away to prison.

The soldiers also broke into and ransacked Hijazi’s store in al-Eizariya town, east of Jerusalem.

Six others out of the nine detainees were identified as residents of Dura and Deir Samet towns as well as Kureisa, Beit al-Rush al-Fauqa and Deir al-Asal al-Fauqa, west and southwest of Hebron. They included a father and his son.

The two others of the nine detainees included a 36-year-old former prisoner Sair town, northeast of Hebron.

In Bethlehem district, the sources confirmed an Israeli military raid in Harmala village, east of Bethlehem city, resulting in the detention of one person.

In Jerusalem, Israeli police brutally assaulted and rounded up two others from the vicinity of Bab Hutta, which leads to Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

In Ramallah and al-Bireh district, Israeli military vehicles stormed al-Bireh city, where soldiers arrested three people after searching and ransacking their homes.

The soldiers stole a large amount of money from the house of one of the detainees.

In a similar raid in Kafr Ein village, northwest of Ramallah, soldiers detained one person.

Also in Ramallah district, soldiers last night raided Nilin village, west of Ramallah city, where they detained two youngsters aged 14 and 16 from their plot of land.

In Salfit district, a military force stormed Kifl Haris town, north of Salfit city, where they rounded up three before releasing them several hours afterward.

One of the detainees was identified as a lawyer, who was beaten and subsequently rushed to a hospital.

Meanwhile, another Palestinian was detained while inside Israel. He was identified as a resident of al-Jalamaa town, north of Jenin city.

This came as Israeli forces carried out a large-scale search campaign, breaking into the houses and interrogating the residents of Yabad town and al-Jalama village, west and north of the city, as part of the ongoing massive manhunt for two prison escapees who remain at large.

Also in the same district, Israeli soldiers last night detained another Palestinian from the vicinity of Salem checkpoint, west of the city.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

BETHLEHEM, Minister of Tourism Rula Ma’ayah and Bethlehem Governor Kamel Hmeid today visited Saint Michael hotel in the biblical city to inspect the damage done after several rooms were burnt from tear gas canisters fired by the Israeli occupation forces at the hotel.

The officials strongly condemned the Israeli attack on the hotel, accusing Israel of deliberately targeting tourism in Bethlehem with this act.

They emphasized the importance of the tourism sector in developing the Palestinian economy.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

JERUSALEM, The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said today that it expects to be able to visit the four recaptured Palestinian prisoners who broke out of jail last week and currently held in Israeli custody.

Spokesperson for the ICRC, Yahia Maswadeh, told WAFA that the ICRC was sparing no effort to visit the four Palestinian detainees who had escaped the highly-fortified Gilboa Prison last week and were recaptured several days later.

He added that the committee take into consideration the concerns of the detainees’ families over the fate of their sons as it would visit the recaptured detainees in the coming days to check on their health condition amidst media reports that the recaptured detainees were subject to brutal beating and torture by Israeli forces.

He pointed that all acts of torture and mistreatment against detainees, whether during detention or at places of detention, are prohibited under the international humanitarian law, while affirming that ICRC, which has been operating in the occupied Palestinian territories for over 50 years, is committed to visiting places of detention and ensuring humane treatment of all incarcerated persons in line with international law.

The Israel Prison Services (IPS) imposed severe restrictions against the Palestinian prisoners in a retaliatory manner after the outbreak of the six prisoners, which human rights groups termed a form of “collective punishment,” considered illegal in humanitarian law. The repressive measures led to mass protests which the Israeli forces attacked, leaving more than 100 Palestinians injured.

Two escapees were re-captured on Friday evening and two others on Saturday morning. Two remain at large.

Palestinians throughout the occupied territories held rallies today and over the past days at ICRC offices in the West Bank, but mainly in Ramallah, demanding the international organization to intervene to check on the status of the prisoners and to make sure the IPS does not mistreat them following several reports of raids and attacks against the prisoners and moving them around prisons in Israel.

Israel also said today that it will allow the family visits to the prisons starting Sunday after it suspended them following the breakout as part of the collective punishment policy.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

RAMALLAH, The Palestinian National Liberation Movement, Fatah, today condemned the decision of Facebook to close its Al-Awda TV channel page, saying it goes in line with the Israeli occupation efforts to silence the Palestinian media and goes in parallel with the Israeli financial, political and economic blockade policy against the Palestinian people.

It warned Facebook against siding with the occupation and standing against the will of the people’s right to freedom and independence.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

RAMALLAH, The Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission said its attorney will be allowed tonight to visit the four recaptured Palestinian prisoners who broke out of jail last week and are currently held in Israeli custody.

The commission said in a statement that its staff succeeded in getting a court ruling lifting the ban on the prisoners meeting a lawyer.

The four re-captured prisoners; Zakaria Zubeidi, Mahmoud Arda, Mohammad Arda and Yacoub Qadri, were among six who broke out of the highly-fortified Gilboa prison last Monday.

The two other prisoners who escaped, Ayham Kamamji and Munadel Infeiat, remain at large.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

RAMALLAH, Six people died of coronavirus in Palestine in the last 24 hours as 2753 new cases were recorded, according to the daily report on the pandemic in Palestine by Minister of Health Mai Alkaila.

She said that the six deaths occurred in the West Bank where 855 new cases were confirmed and 784 recoveries.

The Gaza Strip recorded 1805 new cases and 1155 recoveries, while East Jerusalem recorded 93 new cases and 66 recoveries.

Alkaila said 185 people are getting treatment in hospitals, and 76 are in intensive care, while 19 patients are on ventilators.

She said that over 1.2 million people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 with over half a million getting the second dose.

The West Bank recorded over 50% vaccination rate, while the Gaza Strip over 28%.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

RAMALLAH, Minister of Health Mai Alkaila said today that the Israeli occupation measures at two army-manned crossings in the West Bank and Gaza led to damaging a shipment of COVID-19 vaccines that were sent last Wednesday to Gaza from the Ramallah warehouses of the ministry.

The Minister said that the occupation authorities obstructed a shipment containing 50,000 doses of the Sputnik Light vaccine sent from Ramallah to Gaza and unloaded the vaccines from the trucks for an hour at the Beitunia crossing checkpoint in Ramallah, and for an additional two hours at the commercial border crossing with Gaza known as Karm Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom), which resulted in damaging the vaccines that needed specific temperatures for their preservation and usability.

She added that the truck arrived at the Beitunia checkpoint last Wednesday on its way to deliver the vaccines to Karm Abu Salem crossing. The Israeli soldiers at the Beitunia checkpoint ordered unloading the vaccines and kept them outside the truck for an hour without taking into account that the vaccines require to be stored at minus 30 degrees Celsius, noting that the trucks contain refrigerators to keep the vaccines at the appropriate temperature for their preservation.

The Minister of Health indicated that after the vaccines truck reached Karm Abu Salem crossing with Gaza, the soldiers manning the crossing unloaded the truck once again and kept it outside the truck for two hours, which led to the breaking of the cold chain again.

She said that $675,000 worth of vaccines were destroyed as a result of this while their expiry date was the end of November.

Alkaila said that the ministry has called on the various human rights organizations to intervene immediately to prevent the occupation authorities from spoiling the validity of the vaccines that will be sent later to the Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip.

“We have started immediate measures in coordination with the Civil Affairs Authority and the World Health Organization to send another batch of vaccines to our people in the Gaza Strip,” she said.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency