In other news from the region, the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem is reporting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed almost 8,900 lives in the past two decades, the vast majority of them Palestinians. B’Tselem said Israeli forces killed nearly 7,400 Palestinians, including over 1,500 minors, both in Israel and the Occupied Territories during that period. Meanwhile, Palestinians killed just under 1,500 Israelis, including 139 minors. 2009 has been the deadliest year for Palestinians in the past two decades.