The United States called on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank town of Beit Jalla. Noting that Israeli troops had taken up positions next to a Beit Jalla orphanage affiliated with the Lutheran church, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher also called on both sides “to avoid any action that would jeopardize the safety of the children.” In another development, Israeli police said Palestinians fired a mortar bomb at an empty community center in in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo, but it injured no one and caused little damage.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
