Dead birds spark Israel flu fears
Israel has banned the import of poultry to limit the spread of bird flu
Hundreds of dead poultry have been found in two communities in southern Israel, raising fears of the country's first case of bird flu, officials say.
Israeli Agriculture Minister Zeev Boim said the dead turkeys were found in Ein Hashlosha and nearby Holit, next to the Gaza Strip in the western Negev region.
Mr Boim said officials suspected the bird flu virus was the cause of death, although testing was still under way.
A 7km (four-mile) quarantine zone has been imposed around the communities.
The H5N1 strain of the virus has killed more than 70 people worldwide. Cases of the strain have been reported in birds in at least 15 governorates in Israel's southern neighbour, Egypt.
'Suspicion'
Speaking on Israeli television, Mr Boim said the agriculture ministry could not be certain of the cause of the turkeys' deaths until a number of the birds had been tested.
QUICK GUIDE
Bird flu
"Tonight, we will likely find out if indeed we are talking about bird flu," he told Israel TV.
"In the meantime, it is a suspicion."
But Mr Boim said the authorities were prepared to contain the virus' spread if an outbreak was confirmed.
"We have imposed a quarantine in a radius of 7km around the area, and we are prepared, in case our suspicions are confirmed, to prepare for a wide-scale destruction of the flocks in a radius of 3km (two miles)," he said.
The tests will also determine if the birds died of the H5N1 strain of the virus, which can be caught by humans who handle infected birds, but it is not yet known to have passed from one person to another.
However, experts fear the virus could mutate to gain this ability, and in its new form trigger a flu pandemic that could kill millions.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4814456.stm
Full Version: Dead Birds Spark Israel Flu Fears
I just heard about it on the news a few minutes ago.
But I learned more from the report you sent in Tigger.
Thanks for the up to date news.
But I learned more from the report you sent in Tigger.
Thanks for the up to date news.
QUOTE(RosielovesJesus @ Mar 16 2006, 11:36 PM)
I just heard about it on the news a few minutes ago.
But I learned more from the report you sent in Tigger.
Thanks for the up to date news.
[right][snapback]47389[/snapback][/right]
But I learned more from the report you sent in Tigger.
Thanks for the up to date news.
[right][snapback]47389[/snapback][/right]
Rosie, I didn't hear the news broadcast...but there was several countries that were confirmed cases today....
http://www.christian-forum.net/index.php?s...opic=4285&st=10
We need to keep these folk in pur prayers......
Looks like the Bird flu is confirmed in Israel
http://reuters.myway.com/article/20060317/...BIRDFLU-DC.html
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israel detected its first cases of H5N1 bird flu on Friday, saying the virus had killed thousands of turkeys and chicken on two farms, and it hospitalized one person suspected of being infected.
Bird flu has spread with alarming speed in recent weeks across Europe, Africa and parts of Asia, stoking fears the virus could mutate into a form that could easily pass from one person to another, triggering a pandemic in which millions could die.
"Last night we informed the World Health Organization that the H5N1 virus has spread to Israel," Dr Moshe Haimovitch, a senior agriculture ministry official, said in Tel Aviv.
Officials said they were double-checking the results and expected final confirmation soon.
Israeli agriculture officials said hundreds of thousands of fowl might need to be destroyed to contain the outbreak, discovered on two communal farms located near the Gaza Strip.
A Thai national who worked in the coops on one of the farms was admitted to hospital after complaining of flu-like symptoms.
Although hard to catch, people can contract bird flu after coming into contact with infected birds. The World Health Organization says 98 people have died from H5N1 so far.
Tests were also being carried out on a Serbian boy from a village near the border with Bosnia where bird flu had been identified in birds.
"The case is still under investigation," World Health Organization spokesman Gregory Hartl said.
The risk of human infection means people must wear protective clothing when culling birds in areas where H5N1 has broken out.
In Afghanistan, where bird flu was confirmed on Thursday, a lack of protective suits is delaying efforts to stop the virus's spread.
"We plan to start the culling. We're waiting only for protective clothing," said Azizullah Osmani, an agriculture ministry official, who added he hoped U.S. forces could supply some suits.
LOSS OF APPETITE
The spread of bird flu has shaken poultry markets around the world as consumers have lost their appetites for chicken, with some countries reporting an up to 70 percent drop in sales.
Europe's farm chief should indicate next week how she might respond to repeated demands by European Union governments for action to support poultry prices, which have slumped.
Several states, especially Italy, asked for help some months ago from the European Commission, which administers EU law for the EU-25. While export subsidies have been raised to help reduce the poultry stockpile, no other action has been taken.
The French poultry industry, which has been hit by a series of bans on its products after the discovery of an H5N1 outbreak on a turkey farm, received a small word of comfort on Friday with news that fewer birds than expected may be culled.
Local authorities were preparing to ease rules that would mean farmers could resume selling birds that would otherwise have been culled. Under European law, if no new cases of the disease have been identified within a 21-day period after the initial discovery, marketing rules can be relaxed.
The 21 days expire on March 18.
"The relaxation of the rules provides us with some hope," Daniel Martin, head of the local branch of France's largest farm union, said.
But in Greece, the mood was less positive after a massive drop in sales.
"Give it another two or three months and we can then talk about a complete disaster, the end of out sector," poultry business federation chief Spyros Nonikas told Reuters.
"We are on the brink of collapse and no half measure is going to save us now."
http://reuters.myway.com/article/20060317/...BIRDFLU-DC.html
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israel detected its first cases of H5N1 bird flu on Friday, saying the virus had killed thousands of turkeys and chicken on two farms, and it hospitalized one person suspected of being infected.
Bird flu has spread with alarming speed in recent weeks across Europe, Africa and parts of Asia, stoking fears the virus could mutate into a form that could easily pass from one person to another, triggering a pandemic in which millions could die.
"Last night we informed the World Health Organization that the H5N1 virus has spread to Israel," Dr Moshe Haimovitch, a senior agriculture ministry official, said in Tel Aviv.
Officials said they were double-checking the results and expected final confirmation soon.
Israeli agriculture officials said hundreds of thousands of fowl might need to be destroyed to contain the outbreak, discovered on two communal farms located near the Gaza Strip.
A Thai national who worked in the coops on one of the farms was admitted to hospital after complaining of flu-like symptoms.
Although hard to catch, people can contract bird flu after coming into contact with infected birds. The World Health Organization says 98 people have died from H5N1 so far.
Tests were also being carried out on a Serbian boy from a village near the border with Bosnia where bird flu had been identified in birds.
"The case is still under investigation," World Health Organization spokesman Gregory Hartl said.
The risk of human infection means people must wear protective clothing when culling birds in areas where H5N1 has broken out.
In Afghanistan, where bird flu was confirmed on Thursday, a lack of protective suits is delaying efforts to stop the virus's spread.
"We plan to start the culling. We're waiting only for protective clothing," said Azizullah Osmani, an agriculture ministry official, who added he hoped U.S. forces could supply some suits.
LOSS OF APPETITE
The spread of bird flu has shaken poultry markets around the world as consumers have lost their appetites for chicken, with some countries reporting an up to 70 percent drop in sales.
Europe's farm chief should indicate next week how she might respond to repeated demands by European Union governments for action to support poultry prices, which have slumped.
Several states, especially Italy, asked for help some months ago from the European Commission, which administers EU law for the EU-25. While export subsidies have been raised to help reduce the poultry stockpile, no other action has been taken.
The French poultry industry, which has been hit by a series of bans on its products after the discovery of an H5N1 outbreak on a turkey farm, received a small word of comfort on Friday with news that fewer birds than expected may be culled.
Local authorities were preparing to ease rules that would mean farmers could resume selling birds that would otherwise have been culled. Under European law, if no new cases of the disease have been identified within a 21-day period after the initial discovery, marketing rules can be relaxed.
The 21 days expire on March 18.
"The relaxation of the rules provides us with some hope," Daniel Martin, head of the local branch of France's largest farm union, said.
But in Greece, the mood was less positive after a massive drop in sales.
"Give it another two or three months and we can then talk about a complete disaster, the end of out sector," poultry business federation chief Spyros Nonikas told Reuters.
"We are on the brink of collapse and no half measure is going to save us now."
Job 5:22 KJV
At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.
Re 6:8 KJV
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.
Re 6:8 KJV
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
Bird flu: 3 in Israel hospital
Friday, March 17, 2006; Posted: 10:21 a.m. EST (15:21 GMT)
BEERSHEBA, Israel (Reuters) -- Israel detected its first cases of H5N1 bird flu on Friday, saying the virus had killed thousands of turkeys and chicken on two farms, and hospitalized three people suspected of being infected.
For rest of article.....
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/conditions/...reut/index.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Report: Poultry being sold to Thai workers in Arava
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVITCH, AMIR MIZROCH, AP, AND JPOST.COM
Talkbacks for this article: 23
The Negev police were investigating on Friday evening a report that thousands of poultry were being sold to Thai nationals working in the lower Arava region.
Trucks carrying crates of poultry began to arrive at Arava farms from Israel's coastal region and the Jerusalem hills, Israel Radio reported. Police suspect a last-minute attempt by either farmers or criminals to unload poultry before the quarantine on bird-flu infected kibbutzim takes effect.
At Ein Yahav, a truck driver was detained for questioning. He refused to identify himself or cooperate with the police.
The European Commission on Friday placed a temporary ban on the import of Israeli poultry products following the confirmation of the lethal H5 bird flu strain at four poultry farms in Israel.
The commission will convene next week to reconsider the ban, which applies to live birds, meat, and eggs, Israel Radio reported.
Earlier Friday, the Health Ministry confirmed that the virus responsible for the recent deaths of approximately 11,000 turkeys at the southern kibbutzim of Holit and Ein Hashlosha was indeed the H5 strain. The same strain was identified at Kibbutz Nachshon near Beit Shemesh, following an unusual amount of poultry deaths, and at the Lachish-area moshav of Sde Moshe.
Three people from Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, including a Thai worker, who worked at the coops and came into contact with the infected turkeys, are currently under observation at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. They are being kept in an isolation ward.
The three kibbutzim and moshav, and a radius of three kilometers around each, have been placed under veterinary quarantine. The Health Ministry has ordered the turkey flocks on all four farms destroyed, as well as all those in coops within the quarantine radius. On Saturday, the birds - numbering hundreds of thousands - will be put down by poison administered via the watering system.
The government will compensate the farmers for the financial loss.
The World Health Organization on Friday commended the way Israel handled the potentially dangerous outbreak. The spokesman for the department in charge of handling bird flu told Israel Radio that the government's policy of transparency and reassuring the public were "encouraging."
Eshkol Regional Council head Uri Naamati said that turkeys at Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha and Kibbutz Holit started dying several days ago, and the rate of death increased rapidly on Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Wednesday the largest group of fowl died, and the company that runs the coops at Ein Hashlosha suspected that the cause of death was the deadly H5N1 strain.
The coops at Ein Hashlosha are not operated by the kibbutz, but by an outside company. Samples were sent to the Agriculture Ministry on Wednesday, and the results received Thursday tested positive for bird flu. "Definitely the H5 strain, but we are not sure if it is for certain the H5N1 strain. Personally I think it is the H5N1, but we will have to wait for the final results," Naamati told The Jerusalem PostThursday night.
Naamati said that all the birds at Ein Hashlosha were local fowl bred at a farm in the area. The life span of a turkey at Ein Hashlosha is 26 weeks, Naamati said. "Six weeks after they are born at a breeding farm in the south of the country, they are brought to Ein Hashlosha, where they spend 20 weeks before being slaughtered and shipped out."
Israel has had sporadic cases of avian flu in wild birds, but not of the specific H5N1 strain.
The H5N1 strain has killed or forced the slaughter of tens of millions of chickens and ducks across Asia since 2003, and recently spread to Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid...icle%2FShowFull
Friday, March 17, 2006; Posted: 10:21 a.m. EST (15:21 GMT)
BEERSHEBA, Israel (Reuters) -- Israel detected its first cases of H5N1 bird flu on Friday, saying the virus had killed thousands of turkeys and chicken on two farms, and hospitalized three people suspected of being infected.
For rest of article.....
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/conditions/...reut/index.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Report: Poultry being sold to Thai workers in Arava
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVITCH, AMIR MIZROCH, AP, AND JPOST.COM
Talkbacks for this article: 23
The Negev police were investigating on Friday evening a report that thousands of poultry were being sold to Thai nationals working in the lower Arava region.
Trucks carrying crates of poultry began to arrive at Arava farms from Israel's coastal region and the Jerusalem hills, Israel Radio reported. Police suspect a last-minute attempt by either farmers or criminals to unload poultry before the quarantine on bird-flu infected kibbutzim takes effect.
At Ein Yahav, a truck driver was detained for questioning. He refused to identify himself or cooperate with the police.
The European Commission on Friday placed a temporary ban on the import of Israeli poultry products following the confirmation of the lethal H5 bird flu strain at four poultry farms in Israel.
The commission will convene next week to reconsider the ban, which applies to live birds, meat, and eggs, Israel Radio reported.
Earlier Friday, the Health Ministry confirmed that the virus responsible for the recent deaths of approximately 11,000 turkeys at the southern kibbutzim of Holit and Ein Hashlosha was indeed the H5 strain. The same strain was identified at Kibbutz Nachshon near Beit Shemesh, following an unusual amount of poultry deaths, and at the Lachish-area moshav of Sde Moshe.
Three people from Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, including a Thai worker, who worked at the coops and came into contact with the infected turkeys, are currently under observation at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. They are being kept in an isolation ward.
The three kibbutzim and moshav, and a radius of three kilometers around each, have been placed under veterinary quarantine. The Health Ministry has ordered the turkey flocks on all four farms destroyed, as well as all those in coops within the quarantine radius. On Saturday, the birds - numbering hundreds of thousands - will be put down by poison administered via the watering system.
The government will compensate the farmers for the financial loss.
The World Health Organization on Friday commended the way Israel handled the potentially dangerous outbreak. The spokesman for the department in charge of handling bird flu told Israel Radio that the government's policy of transparency and reassuring the public were "encouraging."
Eshkol Regional Council head Uri Naamati said that turkeys at Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha and Kibbutz Holit started dying several days ago, and the rate of death increased rapidly on Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Wednesday the largest group of fowl died, and the company that runs the coops at Ein Hashlosha suspected that the cause of death was the deadly H5N1 strain.
The coops at Ein Hashlosha are not operated by the kibbutz, but by an outside company. Samples were sent to the Agriculture Ministry on Wednesday, and the results received Thursday tested positive for bird flu. "Definitely the H5 strain, but we are not sure if it is for certain the H5N1 strain. Personally I think it is the H5N1, but we will have to wait for the final results," Naamati told The Jerusalem PostThursday night.
Naamati said that all the birds at Ein Hashlosha were local fowl bred at a farm in the area. The life span of a turkey at Ein Hashlosha is 26 weeks, Naamati said. "Six weeks after they are born at a breeding farm in the south of the country, they are brought to Ein Hashlosha, where they spend 20 weeks before being slaughtered and shipped out."
Israel has had sporadic cases of avian flu in wild birds, but not of the specific H5N1 strain.
The H5N1 strain has killed or forced the slaughter of tens of millions of chickens and ducks across Asia since 2003, and recently spread to Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid...icle%2FShowFull
May GOD bless those that curse HIS Chosen People!
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49346
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OUTBREAK!
Dry out sex organs
of Jews, asks prayer
Muslim leader: 'Praise Allah bird flu' just beginning of plagues to hit Israel
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: March 20, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
JERUSALEM – The bird-flu virus found in Israel last week was sent by Allah to punish the Jews for being "the worst of humanity" and is the beginning of the outbreak of other diseases meant to destroy the Jewish state within the next twenty years, a Gaza preacher said at mosque services this weekend.
Sheikh Abu Muhammed, an imam at the popular Al-Tadwa mosque in Beit Lahia north of Gaza City, went on to ask Muslims at his Friday night sermon to pray for the sexual organs of Jews to "dry out" so they cannot reproduce, a Palestinian in attendance at the mosque services told WorldNetDaily.
"Praise Allah the bird flu has hit the Jews. It came because of their sins against the Palestinians; because they are the most cruel enemy of humanity; because they are themselves the enemy of humanity; because they don't believe in Allah; because they falsify the book of Allah; because they cheated the prophet Muhammed; and because they cheated Allah and even their own prophet, Moses," Sheikh Muhammed was quoted as saying.
"This bird flu will be the beginning of diseases which will hit the nonbelievers. Please Allah keep hitting the enemy with more diseases. This is no doubt the beginning of the end of the Israelis. Like [late Hamas spiritual leader] Sheikh Yassin said, 2025 will be the end of Jews. This [bird flu] is the sign," said Sheikh Muhammed, according to congregants.
Yassin, who was assassinated by Israel in March, 2004, told followers he used Quranic verse to divine Israel would be destroyed by the year 2025.
In his mosque speech, Sheikh Muhammed reportedly went on to explain Allah decided to "hit the Israelis with birds," since birds are mentioned in the Quran as a tool used to defeat infidels.
He asked for congregants to "pray for Allah to dry out the sexual organs of the Jews with a disease so they won't be able to reproduce anymore."
Muhammed made his comments in spite of predictions the virus found in Israel may surface through migrating fowl in the nearby Palestinian territories.
Bird flu was immediately suspected here last week after more than 1,000 birds were found dead in southern Israel. The Agriculture Ministry said yesterday it was almost certain H5N1, the deadly strain of the virus, was responsible.
Veterinary and state health officials proceeded with the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of turkeys and chickens in quarantined farms in attempts to halt the spread of the suspected virus. Israel is set to receive from Holland four million units of vaccine to treat birds in the event officials are not able to contain the virus.
In neighboring Egypt, officials yesterday confirmed a woman who died Friday had bird flu, making her likely the first human death from the disease in that country. Egyptian officials also reported last night a second possible case of a human contracting the virus, but have not released further details.
The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed or forced the slaughter of tens of millions of chickens and ducks across Asia since 2003, and recently spread to Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Some experts fear H5N1 could evolve into a virus that can be transmitted between people and become a global pandemic, but others caution there is little evidence that can happen.
At least 98 people have died from the bird flu throughout the world, two-thirds of them in Indonesia and Vietnam, according to figures released by the World Health Organization
Did anybody read this last article????
It worries me when the Muslim Clerics and the Jewish Rabbi's start saying basically the same things....
Wrath of God behind Israel bird flu?
Tue Mar 21, 2006 8:05 AM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An outbreak of deadly bird flu in Israel is God's punishment for calls in election ads to legalize gay marriages, according to Rabbi David Basri, a prominent sage preaching Kabbalah or Jewish mysticism.
"The Bible says that God punishes depravity first through plagues against animals and then in people," Basri said in a religious edict quoted by his son.
For rest of article:
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle....DFLU.xml&rpc=22
This is what the Muslims are saying.......
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49346
Wrath of God behind Israel bird flu?
Tue Mar 21, 2006 8:05 AM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An outbreak of deadly bird flu in Israel is God's punishment for calls in election ads to legalize gay marriages, according to Rabbi David Basri, a prominent sage preaching Kabbalah or Jewish mysticism.
"The Bible says that God punishes depravity first through plagues against animals and then in people," Basri said in a religious edict quoted by his son.
For rest of article:
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle....DFLU.xml&rpc=22
This is what the Muslims are saying.......
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49346
Bird flu discovered in Gaza Strip
Initial tests on dead chickens suggest the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has spread to the Gaza Strip, Israeli and Palestinian officials have said.
The tests were conducted after some 200 chickens died in the southern town of Rafah, on the border with Egypt.
Israel has been culling hundreds of thousands of birds after an H5N1 outbreak was confirmed on farms next to the Gaza Strip last week.
Egypt on Tuesday reported its fourth suspected case of bird flu in humans.
Earlier this month, Egyptian state TV said a woman had died from the H5N1 virus.
QUICK GUIDE
Bird flu
The world's human death toll has reached 103 since late 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. The latest five deaths were confirmed by the WHO in Azerbaijan.
The virus cannot pass easily from one person to another but there are fears it could mutate, triggering a pandemic.
US scientists have confirmed the H5N1 virus has evolved into two genetically distinct strains, potentially increasing the risk to humans.
'Highly likely'
The tests were carried out after the chickens were found dead in a coop in Rafah, Israeli Agricultural Ministry's spokeswoman Dafna Yarisca said.
The tests had only confirmed the presence of the H5 part of the strain, but Ms Yarisca said "it was highly likely" that the birds had died from H5N1.
Israel conducts all tests on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which does not have the technology.
The PA declared a state of emergency on Tuesday in an attempt to curb the spread of the disease.
Palestinian and Israeli officials were expected to meet later on Wednesday to discuss further measures.
Israel has culled some 400,000 infected turkeys and chickens since the H5N1 was found in two farms in Ein Hashlosha and Holit last week.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4833948.stm
Initial tests on dead chickens suggest the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has spread to the Gaza Strip, Israeli and Palestinian officials have said.
The tests were conducted after some 200 chickens died in the southern town of Rafah, on the border with Egypt.
Israel has been culling hundreds of thousands of birds after an H5N1 outbreak was confirmed on farms next to the Gaza Strip last week.
Egypt on Tuesday reported its fourth suspected case of bird flu in humans.
Earlier this month, Egyptian state TV said a woman had died from the H5N1 virus.
QUICK GUIDE
Bird flu
The world's human death toll has reached 103 since late 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. The latest five deaths were confirmed by the WHO in Azerbaijan.
The virus cannot pass easily from one person to another but there are fears it could mutate, triggering a pandemic.
US scientists have confirmed the H5N1 virus has evolved into two genetically distinct strains, potentially increasing the risk to humans.
'Highly likely'
The tests were carried out after the chickens were found dead in a coop in Rafah, Israeli Agricultural Ministry's spokeswoman Dafna Yarisca said.
The tests had only confirmed the presence of the H5 part of the strain, but Ms Yarisca said "it was highly likely" that the birds had died from H5N1.
Israel conducts all tests on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which does not have the technology.
The PA declared a state of emergency on Tuesday in an attempt to curb the spread of the disease.
Palestinian and Israeli officials were expected to meet later on Wednesday to discuss further measures.
Israel has culled some 400,000 infected turkeys and chickens since the H5N1 was found in two farms in Ein Hashlosha and Holit last week.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4833948.stm
Bird flu discovered in Gaza Strip
Initial tests on dead chickens suggest the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has spread to the Gaza Strip, Israeli and Palestinian officials have said.
The tests were conducted after some 200 chickens died in the southern town of Rafah, on the border with Egypt.
Israel has been culling hundreds of thousands of birds after an H5N1 outbreak was confirmed on farms next to the Gaza Strip last week.
Egypt on Tuesday reported its fourth suspected case of bird flu in humans.
Earlier this month, Egyptian state TV said a woman had died from the H5N1 virus.
QUICK GUIDE
Bird flu
The world's human death toll has reached 103 since late 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. The latest five deaths were confirmed by the WHO in Azerbaijan.
The virus cannot pass easily from one person to another but there are fears it could mutate, triggering a pandemic.
US scientists have confirmed the H5N1 virus has evolved into two genetically distinct strains, potentially increasing the risk to humans.
'Highly likely'
The tests were carried out after the chickens were found dead in a coop in Rafah, Israeli Agricultural Ministry's spokeswoman Dafna Yarisca said.
The tests had only confirmed the presence of the H5 part of the strain, but Ms Yarisca said "it was highly likely" that the birds had died from H5N1.
Israel conducts all tests on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which does not have the technology.
The PA declared a state of emergency on Tuesday in an attempt to curb the spread of the disease.
Palestinian and Israeli officials were expected to meet later on Wednesday to discuss further measures.
Israel has culled some 400,000 infected turkeys and chickens since the H5N1 was found in two farms in Ein Hashlosha and Holit last week.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4833948.stm
Initial tests on dead chickens suggest the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has spread to the Gaza Strip, Israeli and Palestinian officials have said.
The tests were conducted after some 200 chickens died in the southern town of Rafah, on the border with Egypt.
Israel has been culling hundreds of thousands of birds after an H5N1 outbreak was confirmed on farms next to the Gaza Strip last week.
Egypt on Tuesday reported its fourth suspected case of bird flu in humans.
Earlier this month, Egyptian state TV said a woman had died from the H5N1 virus.
QUICK GUIDE
Bird flu
The world's human death toll has reached 103 since late 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. The latest five deaths were confirmed by the WHO in Azerbaijan.
The virus cannot pass easily from one person to another but there are fears it could mutate, triggering a pandemic.
US scientists have confirmed the H5N1 virus has evolved into two genetically distinct strains, potentially increasing the risk to humans.
'Highly likely'
The tests were carried out after the chickens were found dead in a coop in Rafah, Israeli Agricultural Ministry's spokeswoman Dafna Yarisca said.
The tests had only confirmed the presence of the H5 part of the strain, but Ms Yarisca said "it was highly likely" that the birds had died from H5N1.
Israel conducts all tests on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which does not have the technology.
The PA declared a state of emergency on Tuesday in an attempt to curb the spread of the disease.
Palestinian and Israeli officials were expected to meet later on Wednesday to discuss further measures.
Israel has culled some 400,000 infected turkeys and chickens since the H5N1 was found in two farms in Ein Hashlosha and Holit last week.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4833948.stm
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