Palestine

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza’s Hamas authorities Sunday executed five Palestinian men convicted in separate cases of murder and alleged collaboration with Israel.

The Interior Ministry said the executions meant “to achieve public deterrence and security,” but rights groups in the past have questioned fair-trial standards in the military and civilian courts of the Islamic militant group.

Two of the men, both members of the Palestinian security forces, were killed by firing squad, and the other three were hanged at dawn at a security site in Gaza City.

04 September 2022; MEMO: Foreigners who visit the occupied West Bank must inform Israel's Defence Ministry if they fall in love with a Palestinian, according to new rules.

RAMALLAH, Sept 3 (NNN-WAFA) – A senior Palestinian official said yesterday that, the United States should take its “important” role in stopping the unilateral Israeli measures in the Palestinian territories, mainly in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, made the remarks, during his meeting with Barbara A. Leaf, the visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

02 September 2022; MEMO: Israeli settlers yesterday destroyed water pipes in Kisan village, east of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank.

A village council member, Ahmed Ghazal, told Safa Press Agency that settlers cut the water pipes network in Wadi Abyan area. As a result, the water supply was cut off to a number of houses in the village.

In another incident in Bethlehem, Israeli occupation forces opened fire at a Palestinian vehicle in the Aqba Hasna area.

03 September 2022; MEMO: Najeh Bakirat, head of the Administration Department of Awqaf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs, said that his summons by the occupation authorities for interrogation next Sunday comes after decades of harassment and prosecution.

02 September 2022; MEMO: United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, arrived in the Gaza Strip on Thursday for talks with Palestinian officials in the territory, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The envoy crossed into Gaza from Israel through the Erez terminal, a local security source said.

No information was provided about the meetings the UN Envoy will hold in Gaza.

31 August 2022; MEMO: The UN office in Palestine has said that over 1.3 million Palestinian children in territories occupied by Israel are facing challenges as a result of the occupation as they head back to school for the new academic year, a press release issued yesterday said.

30 August 2022; MEMO: The IMF said, in a statement issued on Tuesday, following a 12-day visit to the Palestinian Territories that the local economy grew in 2021 by 7.1 per cent, and is expected to decline to 4 per cent in 2022.

According to the IMF statement, "growth is projected to decline to 4 per cent, driven by lower consumption and investment due to lower real incomes as prices rise, continued fiscal weaknesses and increased uncertainty related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine."

31 August 2022; MEMO: Israeli occupation forces raiding Palestinian homes and properties across the West Bank are facing a new threat from resistance fighters with "no factional affiliations," local media have reported. This is an increasingly frequent trend, it is said.

According to Israel Hayom, despite having no such affiliations, the new breed of resistance fighters make Israeli raids on Palestinian properties "very dangerous".

30 August 2022; MEMO: An Indonesian politician is currently visiting illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank where he has met local leaders, Israel Hayom newspaper reported.

The paper said Samuel Tabuni, a candidate for the position of governor of the Indonesian province of West Papua, arrived in Israel to visit settlements in the West Bank.