Day: 22 March 2024

RAMALLAH: Israeli colonists, protected by Israeli occupation forces, attacked today the Palestinian village of Burqa, located east of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, according to local sources.

The sources reported that colonists assaulted villagers in Burqa during Friday prayers. Simultaneously, Israeli forces stormed the village, firing live ammunition and tear gas canisters at the homes of residents. No injuries were reported.

The sources added that Israeli forces sealed off the entrances to the village, preventing the movement of vehicles in and out.

In a separate incident, Israeli colonists attacked Palestinian vehicles on the Ramallah-Nablus Road near the village of Al-Luban esh-Sharkiya, pelting them with stones.

WAFA correspondent said dozens of colonists who gathered at the road pelted Palestinian vehicles with stones, causing damage to several vehicles but no injuries.

Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA

RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Anti-Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission declared today that the Israeli occupation government has ordered the seizure of 8,000 dunums of land in the Jordan Valley, east of the occupied West Bank.

Muayyad Shaban, the head of the commission, stated that with the approval of the land confiscation order by hard-right Israeli Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, the occupation government continues its plan to seize control of Palestinian lands under various pretexts, including declaring state lands for the benefit of colonial settlements.

Shaban explained that the year 2024 witnessed the largest land seizure operation by the Israeli occupation by declaring Palestinian lands as state lands, with a total of 10,640 dunums confiscated in two separate announcements so far this year. The first announcement was made a month ago, targeting the lands of Al-Eizariya and Abu Dis, east of occupied Jerusalem, seizing 2,640 dunams of land.

The second announcement, which was made today, targ
ets the lands of the Jordan Valley, totaling 8,000 dunams, for the expansion of the Israeli settlement of Yafit built on the lands of the Palestinian village of Fasayil in Jericho Governorate, in addition to another 500 dunams seized at the end of 2023 from the lands of the village of Jab’a in Jerusalem Governorate.

Shaban pointed out land seizure announcements aim to create a link between existing settlements, as was the case with the Ma’ale Adumim and Kidar settlements, and the Givat Benjamin and Adam settlements, leading to the isolation and suffocation of Palestinian villages, completely cutting off their geographic contiguity.

He said the latest plan comes in the context of imposing full control over the Jordan Valley, the strategic food reserve for Palestinians, which is targeted by many forced displacement and colonial expansion plans by the Israeli occupation.

Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA

GAZA: Dozens of civilians, mostly children and women, were killed and injured over the last hours as the Israeli war of genocide on the Gaza Strip enters its 168th consecutive day, according to local and medical reports.

Local sources reported that 10 civilians were killed as a result of the Israeli occupation’s shelling of the Al-Qouqa family’s house northwest of Gaza City.

Additionally, three civilians were killed after being targeted by a missile from Israeli drones in the Al-Zana area east of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. Their bodies were transferred to the European Hospital in Gaza, bringing the number of martyrs taken to the hospital since yesterday to 20.

Early on Friday, eight civilians were killed and others were injured in an Israeli airstrike on the house of the Abu Thabet family in the Nasr neighborhood north of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip.

WAFA correspondent reported that the Israeli army is continuing its missile attacks and artillery bombardment in the vicinity of Al-Shi
fa Medical Complex and the Al-Rimal neighborhood west of Gaza City, noting that columns of smoke were rising from the complex and nearby houses.

Meantime, medical sources from inside Al-Shifa Medical Complex announced the death of three patients due to the blockade and the Israeli occupation forces’ prevention of medicines from reaching the complex for the fifth consecutive day. Families of patients and the wounded have issued appeals to transfer them to other hospitals after being left without treatment or medical care.

Israeli occupation warplanes also targeted the house of the Abu Eisha family in Deir al-Balah city and launched airstrikes on the Nusairat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, as well as on areas in Jabalia and Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.

At least 32,000 Palestinians, predominantly children and women, have been reported killed and over 75,000 others injured since the beginning of the ongoing Israeli war of genocide on Gaza on October 7th of last year.

Source: Palestine news
& Information Agency – WAFA

GAZA: The Israeli occupation army shelled several buildings and set on fire today the vascular surgery department at Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, according to medical sources.

In addition to the bombing and burning of the healthcare facilities, local health authorities in Gaza reported that the Israeli occupation forces are detaining about 240 patients along with their caregivers, in addition to 10 healthcare workers at the Prince Nayef Center within the complex.

The Israeli occupation army has arrested dozens of healthcare workers from inside the Al-Shifa Medical Complex since the beginning of the Israeli military offensive in the complex five days ago.

Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA

GAZA: Several Palestinian civilians were reported killed this evening as a result of being targeted by Israeli occupation forces in various areas of the Gaza Strip.

In Rafah, southern Gaza, at least one individual was killed when Israeli occupation forces bombarded a group of civilians west of the city.

Additionally, a Palestinian was killed in an Israeli bombardment which targeted a location near the Mediterranean beach north of the city of Rafah. His body was transported to Al-Kuwaiti Hospital in the city.

In the meantime, two Palestinians were killed and others were injured as a result of Israeli occupation forces targeting the house of the Ayad family in the Al-Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City.

The occupation artillery also shelled the eastern areas of Khan Younis city, while warplanes renewed their airstrikes west of the Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

In central Gaza, at least one Palestinian was injured by Israeli sniper fire in the in the village of Mughragha.

At least 32,0
00 Palestinians, predominantly children and women, have been reported killed and over 75,000 others injured since the beginning of the ongoing Israeli war of genocide on Gaza on October 7th of last year.

Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA

GAZA: Spain has agreed with the leaders of Ireland, Malta and Slovenia to take the first steps towards recognizing an independent state of Palestine, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said today following a meeting of the European Council in Brussels.

Sanchez told reporters that he expects the recognition to happen during the current four-year legislature that began last year, adding that an agreement was reached after meeting with his Irish, Maltese and Slovenian counterparts on Friday morning.

‘We are agreed that the only way to achieve lasting peace and stability in the region is through implementation of a two-state solution, with Israeli and Palestinian States living side-by-side, in peace and security,’ read a joint statement issued by Ireland after the meeting.

Arab states and the European Union agreed at a meeting in Spain in November that a two-state solution was the answer to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA

BEIRUT: Israeli warplanes launched a series of airstrikes this evening targeting several towns in southern Lebanon, according to local and media sources.

The warplanes conducted airstrikes targeting the towns of Ayta al-Shaab, Al-Khiyam, and Al-Taybeh. Additionally, Israeli artillery targeted the towns of Mari, Aitaroun, and Houla.

This came alongside intensive Israeli reconnaissance flights over villages near the cities of Tyre and Bint Jbeil, extending to the outskirts of the Litani River, and the dropping of flares above border villages.

Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA

GAZA: Israeli occupation forces committed nine massacres against families in the Gaza Strip over the last 24 hours, resulting in the documented killing of at least 82 Palestinians and the injury of 110 others, according to medical sources.

Local health authorities confirmed that the Palestinian death toll from the Israeli onslaught since October 7 has risen to 32,070 reported fatalities, with an additional 74,298 individuals sustaining injuries. The majority of the victims are women and children.

Meanwhile, ambulance and rescue teams are still unable to reach many casualties and dead bodies trapped under the rubble or scattered on roads across the war-torn enclave, as Israeli occupation forces continue to obstruct the movement of and medical and civil defense teams.

Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA

RAMALLAH: President Mahmoud Abbas stated tonight that the Israeli occupation has been stealing our resources and water for decades, depriving the Palestinian people of their right to water. He said this year’s World Water Day comes at a time when our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip are experiencing, unlike anything the world has seen before, the worst inhumane crimes of the occupation.

The President, speaking on the occassion of World Water Day, said that these Israeli crimes have resulted in the killing of thousands of innocent people, the majority of whom are children, women, and the elderly. He added that the majority of our people in Gaza have been displaced, as the Israeli war machine has completely destroyed entire neighborhoods, buildings, homes, and even shelters and hospitals.

President Abbas pointed out that there are more than 1.3 million displaced Palestinian in Rafah today, threatened, not knowing where the next displacement will be.

He stressed that the Israeli occupation government did
not stop there but decided and openly declared from the first day of this savage aggression to halt all basic services, foremost among them water, and to prevent humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.

The President called on the international community to assume its responsibilities to immediately stop this brutal aggression against our people and ensure the entry of medical supplies, food, and necessary supplies to provide water, electricity, and fuel to the Gaza Strip, prevent the displacement of our Palestinian people in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem.

He also called for urgent international protection to the Palestinian people, and called for achieving justice through accountability and prosecution. The President rejected the division of the Gaza Strip or its reduction in size, or the redeployment of the occupation army within the Gaza Strip.

President Abbas called on the international community, the free and just world, to stand with our Palestinian people and their just rights, and to force the
occupation to stop its crimes against our people in Gaza and the West Bank, and to work to find an inclusive solution to end the occupation and establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA

RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Presidency has expressed its strong condemnation of the terrorist attack that occurred on Friday evening in the Russian capital, Moscow, which resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries.

The Presidency affirmed its solidarity and support for the Russian leadership and the friendly people of Russia, emphasizing its keenness on stability in the friendly Russian Federation.

President Mahmoud Abbas offered his condolences to President Vladimir Putin, the Russian people, and the families of the victims, wishing a speedy recovery for the injured.

The Presidency once again expressed its confidence in the Russian leadership’s ability to overcome this ordeal and provide security and stability in the country.

It reiterated President Mahmoud Abbas’s firm stance against terrorism regardless of its source.

Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA