100 Treated for Beatings, Blame Israeli Troops

JERUSALEM — More than 100 Palestinians were treated for injuries from beatings today in the Gaza Strip, hospital officials said, during a Palestinian general strike to protest Israeli rule of the occupied lands.

The army said it could not immediately confirm any injury reports.

Israel deported four Palestinians from the occupied Gaza Strip to Lebanon today, said police in Rachaiya, Lebanon. The move brought to 33 the number of deportees since an Arab uprising against Israeli rule began eight months ago.

Also today, the army opened an inquiry into the causes of Tuesday’s prison riot in which two Arabs were killed. A letter by inmates at the tent prison of Kedziot said they were on a hunger strike to press for the prison’s closing.

Soldiers sealed off Gaza for a third straight day today, confining 650,000 Palestinians to their homes and barring reporters from the occupied territory.

105 Palestinians Treated

Officials at Shifa Hospital in Gaza said 105 Palestinians were treated today for beating injuries. “Most of the injuries were bruises and contusions,” Dr. Ahmed Yazeji, chief surgeon at Shifa, said in an interview.

Yazeji said the bruises appeared to be caused by beatings with “clubs and rifle butts and kicking with heavy military boots.”

He said 90% of the victims said they were beaten in their homes by troops looking for suspected stone-throwers after a surge of violence in Gaza.

Troops shot and wounded two Palestinians in Gaza today, and they were treated at the nearby Ahli Arab Hospital, officials at the hospital said.