Israel - the killing goes on.

31 Palestinians have been killed since Hamas won the majority vote in the Palestinian elections on Jan. 25. (Palestinian Red Cross detailed figures up to 21/2/06 here) Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz says "A Hamas government will mean an authority of terror and murder. Already today Hamas is part of the Axis of Evil that begins in Iran, continues to Syria, Hizbullah and now to the Palestinian Authority.""Axis of Evil" along with Syria and Iran. As a result, "punitive measures" will be taken by Israeli forces against all the Palestinian people.(Pic Jack Straw shaking hands with Bibi Netnayahu)

Monday February 20th was an average day of, “punitive measures”.

Israeli Occupation Forces opened fire and threw gas grenades at high school girls in the West Bank city of Nablus. According to the WAFA news agency, Israeli soldiers broke into the high school in the Til village south of Nablus city, and along with extensive shooting, "fired a number of gas grenades towards the school, causing a state of panic and suffocation among students and teachers."


UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), reported Israeli forces occupied two schools it runs in the Balata Refugee camp. "The Israelis continued to occupy the boys' school after leaving the girls' school today." UNWRA officials also stated that "Israeli forces continue to block a health clinic, which prevents patients or staff from leaving the building."

In a surprise pre-dawn raid, dozens of armored vehicles and hundreds of soldiers who barred the residents from entering or leaving it and soldiers swept into Balata refugee camp (20,000 refugees call this home) and Nablus city, arrested six citizens and "fired into the chest of Usama Al-Banna", an unarmed resident of the Balata refugee camp. Foreign-born UNWRA employees were ordered to leave the Balata refugee camp during the Israeli attack. On Sunday two youth had been killed and were named as Ibrahim Al Sheikh Issa, 16, and Mohammad Ahmad Al Natour, 16 years old.


Elsewhere , Israeli soldiers wounded children and arrested citizens in the West Bank cities of Hebron, Nablus, Jenin and Bethlehem. The attacks and arrests were justified according to the Israelis because the individuals were "resisting the occupation." There were reports of firing on medical teams, and 31 people received injuries.

In Hebron, Israeli soldiers broke into the towns of ad-Dhaheriya, Beit Ummar and Sa'ir, south and north of the city and stormed a number of houses, shooting and tear-gassing residents - five children were wounded and hospitalized. A 14-year child was arrested near the Ibrahimi Mosque, in the old city of Hebron. Soldiers claimed that the child carried a knife. See IMEMC here

In Jenin, a large contingent of Israeli soldiers stormed into Qabatya town, south of the city, ravaged the contents of homes and conducted a house-to-house search campaign, arresting several residents.

In Bethlehem, armored vehicles and jeeps stormed the Al-Nahaleen area and Al-Eza refugee camps, firing on people and homes as they searched houses and arrested residents, leading them to undisclosed locations, security forces stated.


In the Gaza Strip, Israeli artillery fired several missiles near the towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanuon, north of the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile scores of house demolitions continued in the West Bank "under the pretext of missing permits -- a common tool used to expel Palestinians -- ensuring the theft of lands for construction of settlements or military zones," WAFA reported.

Further restrictions have been introduced at check points and PA representataives have lost VIP privikges for free access with their families, the number of workers from Gaza has plummeted this week as crossing points have been designated "international borders".

Go here for details of how the “fence” is destroying Palestinians, their homes and lives.