Israeli military vehicles enter border area in south Gaza

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli tanks and bulldozers entered a border area in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, locals said.

Witnesses told Ma'an that seven Israeli military vehicles entered 200 meters into a border area near Khan Younis and destroyed agricultural land, including trees.

Border incursions are frequently reported by local residents.

Tensions are high in the Gaza Strip following an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday which killed Haitham al-Mishal, 25, in Gaza City. A medical official in Gaza said al-Mishal was a security guard at al-Shifa hospital, while Israel reported that he was a "a global Jihad-affiliated terrorist."

The al-Ansar Brigades says it fired five rockets at Israeli targets on Tuesday in response to the killing.

IOF incursion in southern Gaza

[ 01/05/2013 - 12:16 PM ]

KHAN YOUNIS, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in armored vehicles escorted eight military bulldozers that advanced into eastern Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip, at dawn Wednesday. Local sources told the PIC reporter that IOF troops advanced 150 meters and reached the outskirts of Khuza’a town and bulldozed and combed the area. They said that the bulldozing reached villages east of Khan Younis city amidst heavy shooting at citizens’ houses and lands. Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation authorities decided to partially open the Karm Abu Salem terminal, the sole commercial crossing for Gaza, on Wednesday after five days of closure. Raed Fattuh, the head of the committee for the entry of goods into Gaza, said in a press statement that the partial opening of the crossing would allow entry of around 190 trucks loaded with foodstuffs, fodder, and international aid. He said that limited quantities of cooking gas would be also allowed today.

Medics: Israeli forces shoot 17-year-old in Gaza

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian teenager was shot by Israeli forces in Jabaliya refugee camp, medics said.

Jameel Heesha, 17, was shot in his left foot near the northern border of Gaza Strip.

He was taken to a nearby hospital with moderate injuries.

An Israeli army spokeswoman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

On Thursday, Israeli gunboats opened fire toward Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of the Gaza Strip, a local official said.

Israeli forces opened fire at the boats off north-west Gaza as the fishermen as approached the three-mile limit Israel imposes along the coastline, said Mahfouth Kabariti, head of a federation for fishermen and water sports. No injuries were reported.

Israel's army announced in February that the fishing zone for Palestinians in Gaza would be reduced from six to three miles following a rocket attack.

The zone had been extended to six miles as part of an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that ended an eight-day conflict between Israel and Hamas in November.

Locals say Israeli tanks, bulldozers enter Gaza

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli military forces entered the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday morning, locals said.

Eight bulldozers were accompanied by tanks, entering approximately 100 meters into farming land east of Khan Younis, witnesses said.

No clashes were reported.

An Israeli military spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment.

On Wednesday, witnesses reported a similar incident east of Beit Hanoun. At the time, an Israeli army spokeswoman said there was "routine activity adjacent to the security fence," without providing further details.

Israel imposed a military no-go zone around the Gaza Strip's borders, known as the buffer zone. Palestinians are barred from accessing the land in the buffer zone or building in the area. According to the Al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights, the area contains most of Gaza's valuable arable land.

Israeli forces shoot, critically injure man in north Gaza

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces shot and injured a man in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday, medics said.

Omar Wady, 22, was shot east of Jabalia refugee camp and taken to hospital for treatment, medics told Ma'an.

Wady was shot in the chest and is said to be in a critical condition.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said "several Palestinians gathered near the security fence and damaged the fence. During attempts to distant rioters, one Palestinian was shot."

Last Friday, Israeli forces stationed in a military tower on the north eastern border with Gaza shot and injured three men, medics said.

Since the November ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Israeli forces have shot and killed three people in the Gaza Strip and injured at least 50, amid numerous incursions into border areas of the coastal territory.

IOF soldiers raid southern Gaza

[ 07/03/2013 - 09:09 AM ]

KHAN YOUNIS, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) entered areas to the east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Qarara on Thursday morning. Local sources told the PIC reporter that IOF soldiers in a number of armored vehicles raided the area east of Khan Younis city and bulldozed land. They said that the soldiers then moved upwards towards areas east of Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza. IOF troops routinely breach the calm agreement and launch raids into various border areas in the besieged enclave.

Israeli forces shoot, injure 3 people in north Gaza

 

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces shot and injured three people in northern Gaza on Friday, a medical official said.

Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman of the Gaza health ministry, told Ma'an that three men aged 19-21 were shot by Israeli forces stationed in a military tower on the north eastern border with Gaza.

All three men were shot in their lower legs, he added.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said Palestinians hurled rocks and firebombs over the fence at army patrols in several locations and that militant gunfire damaged an army vehicle.

A military source said soldiers fired live rounds at the attackers.

Since the November ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Israeli forces have shot and killed three people in the Gaza Strip and injured at least 40, amid numerous incursions into border areas of the coastal territory.

Reuters contributed to this report

What a 'period of calm' looks like in the Occupied Territories

Since the end of the last Israeli incursion into Gaza, its navy has attacked Gaza fisherman multiple times [Reuters]

Three months have passed since the ceasefire that brought an end to Israel's eight-day attack on the Gaza Strip known as Operation "Pillar of Defence". This infographic depicts the number of attacks on the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military during this three-month period, as well as the number of Palestinian attacks emanating from Gaza. Since late November, Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have averaged over one a day, everyday. These include shootings by troops positioned along the border fence, attacks on fishermen working off the Gaza coast, and incursions by the Israeli army.
This data is important for three reasons. First, it is a response to the Western media's failure to cover the vast majority of Israeli attacks. This fits with a familiar and disturbing pattern, where a regional "period of calm" is exclusively defined in terms of attacks on Israelis. "Calm" from this perspective means security for Israelis - but more dead and injured Palestinians.
Second, data of this nature lay bare the daily reality for Palestinians and the power imbalance between the occupier and an occupied, colonised people fighting for their basic rights. It is instructive that the Israeli army refers to the entry of its forces into the Gaza Strip as "routine activity". Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers continue to snatch Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank, enforce segregation, and protect settler land theft. We have included numbers for Palestinians killed and wounded in the West Bank over this same period because developments there and in Gaza ought not to be viewed as isolated from one another.
Third, if or when there is another assault by Israel on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli government and many in the West will seek to emphasise the "rockets" narrative once again. So remember this data, and note what the Israeli army has been doing when - in the words of Israel's own consul general in Los Angeles - "for the last three months, there hasn't been a rocket fired from Gaza".

[Illustration and design: Rachele Richards]

 

 

Ben White is a freelance journalist, writer and activist, specialising in Palestine/Israel. He is a graduate of Cambridge University.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

Source:

Al Jazeera

Israeli soldiers shoot, injure Palestinian in Jabalia

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) – Israeli forces shot a Palestinian man Friday afternoon east of Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip injuring him in the foot.

Palestinian paramedics told a Ma’an reporter that the man was hit near a cemetery in the eastern part of the refugee camp. He was evacuated to Kamal Udwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers were responding to a dozens of "rioters" who approached the fence on the border and they fired warning shots in the air.

When one of the Palestinians refused to turn back forces fired at his lower body, she said.

Between a Rock and Hard Place

Finding work in Gaza isn't easy, unemployment is overwhelming. For some labourers carving out a basic living, their attempts to feed their families can be life threatening if their work takes them into the proximity of the Israeli army - even when the Israeli authorities have granted authorisation.

On the 14th of February 2013, Kamil Adham Al-Kafarn (20) was scavenging construction materials near Erez crossing in the north of Gaza Strip. He and his cousin, Hosam, were working in the area with permission from the Israeli authorities when they were shot by an Israeli sniper. A bullet entered through the right side of Kamil's torso, causing tears in his stomach, diaphragm and liver. The doctors believe that due to the damage inflicted upon his internal organs, he will never fully recover.

Hosam Al-Kafarn (21) was wounded along with Kamil when they were scavenging construction materials near Erez. He was hit by two bullets. The first hit his right hand and the second one went through his left arm and then hit Kamil. Hosam will need to undergo surgery due to bone damage in his arm.

Photos courtesy of Desde Palestina

 

Stories from Gaza

2 injured by Israeli fire in north Gaza

 

 

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Two young Palestinian men were injured by Israeli fire in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, medics said.

A 20-year-old man was hit in the chest by gunfire east of Beit Hanoun, and is a moderate to serious condition, Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said.

Another man, aged 22, was shot in the hand in the same incident and has moderate injuries, al-Qidra said. The pair are being treated in Beit Hanoun hospital.

An Israeli army spokesman said several Palestinians approached the border fence and tried to damage the barrier. He said one person was wounded by soldiers attempts to distance the group.

Earlier Thursday, Israeli military vehicles crossed into northern Gaza near Beit Lahiya to level lands, witnesses told Ma'an.

Israeli forces opened fire in the direction of Palestinian farmers, to force them leave their lands during the operation, they said.

Israel had barred Palestinians from coming within hundreds of meters of the Gaza border area, but in a ceasefire deal last November agreed to ease curbs on Gaza.