RAMALLAH, Wednesday, January 23, 2019 (WAFA) – The killing of a Palestinian as a result of Israeli artillery shelling on eastern besieged Gaza Strip hit the front page headlines in Palestinian Arabic dailies on Wednesday.

The dailies reported that a Palestinian was killed and four others were injured in an Israeli artillery shelling to the east of al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

The slain Palestinian was identified as Mahmoud al-Nabahin, 24, and one of the injured is in a serious condition.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam added that Israeli military jets carried out several airstrikes, targeting a location north of Beit Lahia town in the northern Gaza Strip.

Al-Quds also reported that Palestinian snipers shot an Israeli soldier near the border fence. According to Israeli media reports, the soldier was moderately injured.

Amid the escalation, al-Quds and al-Ayyam said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to cancel the transfer of Qatari funds to Gaza.

The Qatari donation of $15 million was scheduled to be transferred to Hamas today to pay the salaries of Gaza civil servants.

Furthermore, the dailies reported the Palestinian Finance Ministry announcing that Finance Minister Shukri Bishara would not attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos due to Israel’s intransigence regarding Palestinian requests to resolve a number of outstanding financial issues.

Highlighting Premier Rami Hamdallah’s participation in the WEF, al-Quds said that Hamdallah met President of WEF Børge Brende.

According to al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida, Italy donated €1.5 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).

Moreover, al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) calling on Israel to cancel the forced eviction of the Palestinian Sabbagh family from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and halt settlement construction.

Yet, the dailies said that Palestinians organized sit-ins across various districts in protest of a recent Israeli crackdown on Palestinian prisoners in Ofer prison.

Throughout the past two days Israeli forces raided Ofer prison and attacked Palestinian prisoners with dogs and tear gas bombs, resulting in over 100 injuries.

They added that prisoners are scheduled to hold a dialogue session with the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) today. This session was described by al-Hayat al-Jadida as “decisive”.

Al-Quds added in this regard that the Palestinian government called on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities regarding the suffering of prisoners in Israeli detention.

According to al-Quds and al-Ayyam, an Israeli court placed a temporary lien on a plot of land partly owned by former President Yasser Arafat in Jerusalem.

The land in the Mount of Olives covers an area of 2.7 dunums (0.67 acres), of which Arafat owns 135 square meters.

Besides, al-Quds spotlighted Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov’s briefing to the UN Security Council on the situation in the Middle East.

It explained that Mladenov assailed the policies pursued by Israel and its settlers and called for Fatah-Hamas unity.

The dailies also spotlighted Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi’s intervention in the UNSC’s debate on the Middle East.

They reported Marsudi stating that Palestine has a “natural and legal right” to become a full member of the United Nations.

According to al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida, Chairman of the PLO’s Refugees Affairs Department Ahmad Abu Holi and Director of UNRWA’s Operations in the Northern Governorates emphasized the continuity of the UN relief agency’s work in Jerusalem.

Regarding the latest spate of demolitions in Jerusalem, al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said that Israeli occupation authorities forced two Palestinian families to demolish a house and car repair shop in the Issawiya neighborhood.

Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida added that Israeli authorities delivered demolition orders to Palestinian residential buildings and commercial structures in the same neighborhood.

Al-Ayyam added that Israeli settlers chopped down hundreds of olive trees in Jabaa and Beit Ummar towns, located to the east of Jerusalem and north of Hebron respectively.

Al-Quds and al-Ayyam reported Secretary-General of the PLO’s Executive Committee Saeb Erekat confirming that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has informed the Trump Administration that it will stop taking any form of US government assistance at the end of the month.   

The PA has taken this step as a result of the “Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act”, known as ATCA, which makes it possible for US citizens to sue foreign entities that receive US assistance for past acts of “terrorism”.