intravenously
said that he was close to death.
World News from the BBC.
Thousands of Israelis have been holding a rally in Jerusalem at the end of a 12-day march for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who’s been held captive in the Gaza Strip for four years. His family and their supporters want their government to agree a prisoner swap with Hamas which controls Gaza. Israel says it's agreed
in principle
to release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
The Palestinian Authority has called on President Obama to end tax breaks for American donations to illegal Israeli settlements built on the occupied West Bank. An official statement said stopping such
exemption
s would be more in line with the declared American policy of considering the settlements an obstacle to peace. Magdi Abdelhadi reports.
The Palestinian demand came shortly after the American newspaper, the New York Times, revealed that 40 local organisations have channelled millions of dollars to Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank over the past decade. Some of the money, the paper said, went to settlements
regarded as
illegal even under Israeli law. According to the paper, the money goes
mostly
to schools and synagogues, which is legal according to the American tax legislation. But some of it, according to the New York Times, has also paid for what it described as "legally
questionable
commodities", such as bullet-proof vests and other military gear.