In the west Bank, Israeli forces kidnap at least seven Palestinians across the region. In the Gaza Strip meanwhile, five Palestinian police officers are killed by an Israeli air strike. These stories and more coming up. Stay tuned.

The West Bank

The Israeli army on Wednesday morning invaded a village near the northern West Bank city of Salfit, searching homes and kidnapping six civilians. The military also invaded the village of Rujeep, located east of Nablus city in the northern part of the West Bank, kidnapping one civilian.

An under-cover unit of the Israeli army on Wednesday morning infiltrated the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, kidnapping one resistance leader. Palestinian sources said that the under cover force entered the city in a vehicle with Palestinian license plates, and surprised a resistance leader, Ateef al-Kamel, a leader in the al-Quds Brigades, as he left a local hospital in the city center. The troops forced him into the car, then rushed out of the city, witnesses said.

In the southern West Bank city of Hebron, one Palestinian teen was seized near the Ibrahimi Mosque, in the old city area, after Israeli border police claimed he was carrying a gun, two knives, and a suicide note. The youth was moved to a nearby police station for questioning.

The West Bank arm of the Hamas movement on Wednesday branded statements made by the Palestinian Authority's Intelligence Chief, Toufic Terawi, a ‘declaration of war’ against the Palestinian resistance. Terawi had earlier indicated the PA's willingness to seize weapons from Hamas and other movements, a move that Hamas claims was made in compliance with Washington and Tel-Aviv’s dictations.

The Gaza Strip

At least five Palestinians were killed, and a number of others wounded, when Israeli warplanes pounded a Palestinian police center in the southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian medics reported that at least five dead bodies had been transferred to the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.

A column of Israeli tanks, accompanied by a bulldozer, on Wednesday morning launched an incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, media sources and eyewitnesses reported. The invading force entered the Jaradat neighborhood of Rafah city, close to the Gaza-Israel border line. The al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas, and Islamic Jihad declared that their fighters confronted the tanks, firing many volleys of ammunition at the invading vehicles.

A blast on Wednesday morning ripped through a beauty salon in Gaza city, causing severe damage to the shop and other nearby structures. Medics later confirmed that no one had been injured in the explosion.

In other news, one member of the al-Qassam brigades on Wednesday managed to infiltrate an Israeli army base near Rafah. The fighter threw several grenades inside the base, then managed to escape, unharmed

The deposed Palestinian Ministry of the Interior on Wednesday announced that 12 members of the Gaza-based Palestinian police force had been killed during the month of October. The Ministry stated that five had been killed while on regular duty, while 7 were killed in attacks by the Israeli military.

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, brought to you by John Smith and Ghassan Bannoura.