ISRAELI MILITARY TARGETS GAZA FARMERS WITH GUNFIRE

Gaza, 12 Jumadil Awwal 1436/3 March 2015 (MINA) – Israeli forces Tuesday opened gunfire on Palestinian farmers as they were trying to access their borderline farmlands to the east of Gaza City.

Israeli soldiers, stationed in military watchtowers along the border, opened fire at Palestinian farmers as they were attempting to reach their borderline farmlands, forcing them to leave. There were no reports of casualties, Wafa News Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The cross-border attack comes as part of a series of Israeli violations of a ceasefire deal that ended the 51-day 2014 summer aggression on the coastal enclave.

Israeli forces routinely open fire on Palestinian farmers and other civilians if they approach their lands adjacent to the borderline.

The Israeli military has in recent years enforced a buffer zone along the borderline with Gaza, extending between 500 meters and 1,500 meters into the 1967 line, effectively turning local farms into no-go zones.

According to UNOCHA, 17% of Gaza’s total land area and 35% of its agricultural land were within the buffer zone as of 2010, directly affecting the lives and livelihoods of more than 100,000 residents of Gaza.

Israel and the Palestinian factions reached a ceasefire deal on August 26, 2014, ending the latest deadly Israeli onslaught on Gaza that claimed the lives of over 2,200 people, overwhelmingly civilians.

The ceasefire deal stipulated that Israel would immediately ease the blockade imposed on the Strip and expand the fishing zone off Gaza’s coast, but it has failed to do so.

Israel has imposed a tightened blockade since 2007, after Hamas took over the Strip from President Mahmoud Abbas-loyal security forces.(T/P008/R04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)