RAMALLAH, March 1, 2011 (WAFA) – A report issued on Tuesday by the International Relations department in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said that Israel killed seven Palestinians in West Bank and Gaza during February.

Six Palestinians were killed in Israeli air raids and gunboat attacks on Gaza, while one Palestinian was stabbed to death in West Jerusalem by extremist Jews, according to the report.

The report said that 90 Palestinians were injured in raids on the Gaza Strip and in non-violent marches against the apartheid wall. Journalists were targeted in these marches and in Jerusalem while covering assaults by Israeli soldiers and settlers.

It said that 189 Palestinians were arrested in the West Bank and Gaza last month while reports of Israeli violations and maltreatment of Palestinian prisoners escalated. Detainees suffer from severe health conditions inside the prisons as Israeli authorities refuse to provide them with proper medical care.

Assaults against Palestinian prisoners continued in detention centers and in courtrooms; Israeli interrogators threatened detained children with sexual abuse in order to force them to make confessions and several prisoners were banned from family visits while some family members were arrested during visits, added the report.

On the other hand, Israeli authorities seized 158 acres of land in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and allowed the construction of a military base and a military academy in East Jerusalem, allowed the building of 374 housing units in settlements and issued 119 demolition orders against Palestinian homes, according to the report.

Dov Lior, chief rabbi of Kiryat Arba, a settlement near Hebron, issued a religious ruling legitimizing killing of non-Jews. He called to prepare for the rebuilding of the Jewish temple, instigating the destruction of al-Aqsa Mosque, which has been subjected to Jewish extremists’ attacks.

R.Q./M.A.