ISRAELI FORCES SHOOT, INJURE PALESTINIAN IN NORTHERN GAZA

Gaza, 13 Rabiul Awwal 1436/4 January 2015 (MINA)– A Palestinian man was shot and injured by Israeli forces in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday (2/1), an official said.

Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said a 25-year-old man was shot in both feet from one of the watchtowers near the border with Israel east of Jabaliya.

The man was taken to Kamal Adwan hospital in moderate condition, al-Qidra said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman told Ma’an that there was a “riot of about the 50 Palestinians” in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday, and that Israeli soldiers fired warning shots in the air to disperse the protesters.

Soldiers then fired at the lower extremities of one “instigator,” the spokeswoman said, Ma’an News Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Earlier, Israeli forces opened fire at Palestinians in the al-Farrahin area east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Witnesses said that Israeli forces deployed east of al-Farrahin at the border opened fire on Palestinians as they were hunting birds in an open area near the border.

No injuries were reported.

Israeli forces frequently shoot at farmers and other civilians inside the Gaza Strip if they approach large swathes of land near the border that the Israeli military has deemed off-limits to Palestinians.

The “security buffer zone” extends between 500 meters and 1,500 meters into the Strip, effectively turning local farms into no-go zones.

According to UNOCHA, 17 percent of Gaza’s total land area and 35 percent of its agricultural land were within the buffer zone as of 2010, directly affecting the lives and livelihoods of more than 100,000 Gazans. (T/P010/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)