Israeli forces invade Rafah; clashes reported

Monday August 30, 2010 17:09 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

Late Sunday night, Israeli tanks, bulldozers and armored vehicles invaded the southern Gaza Strip, east of Rafah, and began bulldozing land in the An-Nahda neighborhood.

A spokesperson for the Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of the Fateh party, said its fighters exchanged fire with the invading Israeli soldiers, leading the troops to retreat back to their base on the southern Gaza border.

The Israeli military did not confirm the incident, but did report that one mortar shell was fired Monday morning from the Gaza Strip into an open field in southern Israel.

Israeli invasions of Gaza are common, despite the Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005. Rafah is a frequent target of invasions, and has seen thousands of home demolitions by Israeli forces attempting to create a 'security zone' between the city and the border. 

Brigade: Clashes after bulldozers enter south Gaza

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Brigades said violent clashes followed an Israeli military incursion east of Rafah, southern Gaza, overnight Sunday, a leader said.

Abdul Muntaser Omar said the entering force was attempting to bulldoze land in the An-Nahda neighborhood. Brigade members and Israeli forces exchanged fire, forcing the troops to retreat, he added.

The brigade leader further said Israeli forces used machine-guns during the exchange of fire, with no reports of injuries.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said the army was not familiar with the incident, following a Ma'an inquiry.

Meanwhile, Israeli media reported Monday that a mortar shell from Gaza exploded in an open field in southern Israel with no injuries or damage reported.

Photos of the activists during the weekly demonstration, and their success in the removal of part of the barrier wall

Photos of activists of the popular resistance in Gaza, that rejected the Zionist occupation and its decision to impose the so-called buffer zone. Activists and the local initiative succeeded for the second time in a row in the removal of the security fence surrounding territory of the Palestinian farmers in the vicinity of the Erez crossing in northern Gaza, during the weekly demonstration organized by the Beit Hanoun local initiative on Tuesday, June 24/ 8 / 2010.

2 Gaza workers injured by Israeli fire near border

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Two Palestinians were injured by Israeli fire near the border fence separating Gaza from Israel, medics said.

Director of ambulance and emergency services in Gaza Muawiya Hassanein said Sharif Sa'id Ghubn, 25, and Rami Ibrahim Ghubn, 18, were transferred to hospital with bullet wounds, which he described as moderate.

The men were collecting rubble north of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza to make cement, Hassanein said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said forces saw a number of people close to the border, and asked them to identify themselves. When the men failed to do so, Israeli soldiers opened fire, she said, adding that she was only aware of one injury. The spokeswoman noted that Israel considers the area a combat zone.

Under Israel's siege policy, the entry of construction materials into the Strip is heavily restricted. A report by UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in May said restrictions on the import of cement have made it "impossible" to reconstruct the 12,000 homes in Gaza damaged or destroyed by the Israeli military, or to build a further 20,000 homes needed to accommodate natural population growth in the Strip.

Several incidents of Israeli fire at the border have resulted in injuries over the last month. On 16 August, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian man during clashes along the southern border.

Two weeks previously, Bilal Ibrahim Obeid, 22, was injured by live fire at the border and in a separate incident three men sustained gun shot wounds close to the fence. Reports suggested the men were collecting cement aggregates from the area.

PCHR weekly report 19/8-25/8/2010: 1 child worker injured, 1 incursion

extracts from PCHR weekly report 19/8-25/8/2010:

 Tuesday, 24 August 2010


At approximately 06:00, Israeli troops stationed at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northwest of Beit Lahia town fired at a number of Palestinian workers, who were collecting raw construction materials from a site where the evacuated Israeli settlements of "Elli Sinai" and "Dogit" used to stand. The workers fled from the area and no casualties were reported. 

At approximately 16:00, IOF moved nearly 150 meters into the northwest of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia. They patrolled in the area for a few hours. They moved back to the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel at approximately 20:00. 

Wednesday, 25 August 2010  


At approximately 06:00, Israeli troops stationed at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northwest of Beit Lahia town fired at a number of Palestinian workers, who were collecting raw construction materials from a site where the evacuated Israeli settlements of "Elli Sinai" and "Dogit" used to stand. As a result, Mohammed Ramadan Subeh, 17, from Beit Lahia, was wounded by a bullet to the left thigh. 

At approximately 06:40, Israeli troops stationed at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northwest of Beit Lahia town fired at a number of Palestinian workers, who were collecting raw construction materials from a site where the evacuated Israeli settlements of "Elli Sinai" and "Dogit" used to stand. The workers fled from the area and no casualties were reported.

Palestinian Civilians [attacked] while Collecting Rubble as IOF open fire northwest of Beit Lahyia

25-8-2010

Al Mezan

At app. 6am on Wednesday 25 August 2010, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF), positioned at the northern separation fence between Gaza and Israel, opened fire on Palestinian civilians who were 300 meters from the border fence in the As-Siafa area on the beach of Beit Lahyia town, in North Gaza district. As a result, Mahmoud Ramadan Subeh, 19, who lives in Beit Lahyia was injured. According to medical sources at Kamal Odwan Hospital, his injury was light. Many Palestinian civilians are frequently exposed to IOF fire while collecting rubble from the destroyed structures near the border between Gaza and Israel; including the evacuated settlements in North Gaza district.

Live ammunition used on demonstrators in Gaza who move a section of the buffer-zone fence

18 August 2010 | ISM Gaza
On Tuesday morning a demonstration in Gaza by Palestinian activists from Local Initiative Beit Hanoun, with four International Solidarity Movement volunteers and other international activists and journalists was met with live ammunition fired by the Israeli army.

Soldiers opened fire on protestors in the buffer zone in Beit Hanoun, near to the Erez crossing but the demonstration succeeded in moving a section of the barbed wire fence dividing land on the Gazan side of the border.
Saber Al Za’anin lead the chanting against the occupation, siege and attacks on Palestinian farmers in Beit Hanoun, accompanied by about thirty Palestinians, nine international activists and a press team.  The crowd marched towards the wall around the Erez crossing and one of the watch towers was open, evidently monitoring as the group approached the wall at about 100 metres.  The barren waste land all around was a result of forced neglect – the place has rendered out-of-bounds to Palestinian farmers due to the threat of Israeli snipers and shelling.
The buffer-zone is 300 metres wide and stretches along the entire border fence on the frontier with Israel. Violent attacks by the Israeli military on anyone in the area have recurred consistently – and frequently live ammunition has been used against peaceful demonstrators and even farmers harvesting crops. According to the Palestine Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) the violence of the ‘buffer zone’ enforcement makes over 30% of Gaza’s most useful arable land “useless or inaccessible”.
“This was the first time anyone has entered this area of Palestinian land since the beginning of the siege. Farmers had long ago given up working on it because of the dangers”, Saber told us. Soon after an attempt was made to remove the twisted barbed wire fence positioned by the Israel army to divide two Palestinian fields.
A sniper was stood on top of one of the checkpoint towers and once protestors started to move the fence, live bullets were fired within 5 – 10 metres of the demonstrators. Two further attempts were made to move the fence and the firing increased, dust clouds rising from the ground where bullets bounced around people’s feet.  The men and women on the demonstration returned for cover, fortunately without casualties except for some minor scratches from dragging the fence.
History of Attacks
In recent years the land around the Erez border has seen frequent attacks.
Kamel Iswalim’s family and brothers’ families lived just 500 metres from the border, right next to where the demonstration began. There had always been regular incursions and every six month the families were corralled by the IDF and shut into one room for hours. In 2006, his brother’s small two-room house was demolished by bulldozers. In 2007, the whole area was shot at by tanks, and Kamel was hit in the leg. On 5^th January 2009 during the bombardment and ground assault on Gaza that left over 1400 Palestinians dead, Kamel’s house was targeted.
Soldiers came to the front of the house at night, yelling in Hebrew that the family must leave the house within five minutes. They got shot at while coming out of their house, and they had no time to grab their belongings. Then they watched it being bulldozed, together with their five water wells and all of their trees. “Go to Gaza City and never come back again”, they were told by the soldiers. Kamel’s family lost everything they had and shortly after his father died from a heart attack from the ordeal.  In total, there were ten houses destroyed in that area along with Gaza’s sole agricultural college. They are unable to farm any of the 13 dunums of land they lost – they cannot even enter it anymore, let alone rebuild their house despite it being further than 300 metres from the Israeli border.
“I have five sons and five daughters”, Kamel said. “I can’t offer them anything. I have two sons in college, and don’t know where to get the money from to enable them to finish their studies.” The whole family is now living in a hut on land which is one kilometer from the border, and it doesn’t belong to them. But farming this land gives them a salary of 50 dollars per month – 50 dollars for a family of twelve. “When we were last shot at?” Kamel laughs sadly. “We are shot at pretty much every day, even here, one kilometer from the border.”  His neighbour Ab Dir Kadel Rahmed tried his luck and spent four years rebuilding his house, after it was destroyed in 2006. It lasted six months before the Israeli military demolished it again.
“I call the western governments to stand up and stop what’s going on here. It’s enough”, Kamel says. “Enough lives were destroyed, enough people were killed. It’s just enough.”

Updated on August 18, 2010

UN Report: Israeli restrictions on farming and fishing violate human rights

Thursday August 19, 2010 19:37 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

A United nations report released today found that Israeli forces in Gaza have severely restricted access to farmland and fishing zones along the Gaza Coast. The report found that these restrictions have steadily increased over the last ten years, beginning long before the siege imposed in 2007.

UN-OCHA logo

Over 150,000 Palestinians have been directly affected by these restrictions, which prevent them from maintaining their basic livelihood.

In addition, the report found that Israeli troops routinely fire live rounds at anyone who enters the restricted zones. Israeli soldiers have killed 22 Palestinians, and wounded another 146, in the 1.5 years since the massive Israeli invasion of January 2009.

According to the UN-OCHA Report, these shootings violate international law, especially considering that no notice was given to the local Palestinian population prior to the implementation and enforcement of the new restrictions. In many cases, the only notice the Palestinians had was being shot at or shot while going to farm on their land.

In total, the 'restricted areas' now constitute 17% of the land area of the Gaza Strip, and 85% of the internationally-allowed fishing zones off the coast. This land and water takeover has taken place during a time when Israel has claimed to have lessened its control over the Gaza Strip, because they moved 5,000 Israeli settlers out of Gaza in 2005.

In reality, however, according to the UN-OCHA, the data shows that Israel now controls a large area of the Gaza Strip with so-called 'security zones', which have further devastated an economy already reeling from the effects of Israel's closure of all borders to imports, exports, entry and exit.

PCHR weekly report 12/8- 18/8/2010: 1 worker injured, 3 incursions, airstrikes

extracts from PCHR weekly report 12/8- 18/8/2010: 

 IOF continued to fire at Palestinian farmers and workers in the Gaza Strip’s border areas.

- A Palestinian worker was wounded in the northern Gaza Strip.

 IOF expanded the buffer zone in the northern Gaza Strip.


Thursday, 12 August 2010

 
At approximately 10:00, IOF moved nearly 300 meters into al-Farrahin area in 'Abassan village, east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis. They leveled area of Palestinian agricultural land. They redeployed outside the area at approximately 15:30.


 Saturday, 14 August 2010


At approximately 08:00, Israeli troops stationed at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northwest of Beit Lahia town opened fire at a number of Palestinian workers, who were collecting raw construction materials from a site where the evacuated Israeli settlement of "Elli Sinai" used to stand. As a result, one of the workers, Rafiq 'Aayesh al-Sous, 30, from Beit Lahia town, was wounded by a bullet to the right thigh, when he was nearly 1,200 meters away from the border.





Monday, 16 August 2010


At approximately 15:00, armed clashes erupted between a number of activists of the Palestinian resistance and Israeli troops stationed at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, east of Khan Yunis. Soon, IOF sent backup to the area. IOF then moved nearly 300 meters into the area. In the evening, IOF declared that they killed an activist of the Palestinian resistance and that an Israeli soldier was injured in the clashes. The resistance activist was identified as Nassam Burhom Suleiman al-Daghma, 22, a member of the al-Quds Brigades (the armed wing of Islamic Jihad). IOF did not allow Palestinian medical crews to attend his body until 17:00 on the following day. According to medical sources, he was hit by bullets and shrapnel throughout the body, and apparently bled to death.

Tuesday, 17 August 2010 


At approximately 09:00, IOF moved nearly 400 meters into al-Farrahin area in 'Abassan village, east of Khan Yunis. They leveled areas of Palestinian land. They redeployed outside the area at approximately 15:00. 


At approximately 21:35, Israeli warplanes fired a missile at a tunnel in al-Shouka village on the Egyptian border, south of Rafah.


At approximately 22:30, Israeli warplanes fired two missiles at a tract of land located in the east of Gaza Valley village in the central Gaza Strip. The missiles hit a well, two rooms and a deserted house. The well and the house were destroyed and a nearby factory was damaged.

IOF artillery shells Palestinian residential quarters

[ 17/08/2010 - 02:58 PM ]

KHAN YOUNIS, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) used artillery to shell Palestinian houses east of Abasan to the east of Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, the PIC reporter said. He added that the IOF pounding did not cause human casualties but only material damage as most shelled houses were deserted after being partially destroyed by the IOF in its last war on Gaza. In the meantime, IOF troops aboard armored vehicles and under cover of army choppers advanced into Farahin area also east of Khan Younis on Tuesday, local sources reported, adding that the soldiers fired at citizens' homes and anything moving in their vicinity while tractors bulldozed cultivated lands. An IOF spokesman on Tuesday said that two of his soldiers were lightly wounded on Tuesday when a mortar shell fired from Gaza slammed next to them. A Palestinian resistance fighter was killed last night in an exchange of fire with an IOF unit that ventured into east of Khan Younis. A Palestinian source said that the fighter was affiliated with the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad movement. An IOF spokesman said that a military patrol detected two Palestinians while planting explosives near the border fence and fired at them.

Limited Israeli Incursion East of Khan Younis

17-8-2010

Al Mezan

At app. 9am on Tuesday 17 August 2010, Israeli tanks and bulldozers moved under heavy fire for about 400 metersinto the Al Fraheen area in Abasan and Al Qarara towns in Khan Younis district. Israeli armored bulldozers leveled land in the area. At app. 9pm on the same day, the force withdrew from the area.

IOF Shoot at Palestinian Civilians in Beit Lahyia; One Person Injured

14-8-2010

Al Mezan

At app. 8am on Saturday 14 August 2010, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF), positioned at the northern separation fence between Gaza and Israel, opened fire on Palestinian civilians who were approximately one kilometer from the border fence in the As-Siafa area on the beach of Beit Lahyia town, in North Gaza district. Rafeeq 'Ayish As-Sous, 30, was injured in the right thigh. According to medical sources at Kamal Odwan Hospital, his injuries were light.

PCHR weekly report 29/7 - 4/8/2010

extract from PCHR weekly report 29/7 - 4/8/2010

OF continued to fire at Palestinian farmers and workers in border areas of the Gaza Strip.

- 5 Palestinian workers, including a child, were wounded in the northern Gaza Strip.

IOF conducted 31 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and 5 limited ones into the Gaza Strip. 

Saturday, 31 July 2010  


At approximately 07:30, Israeli troops stationed at the bordered between the Gaza Strip and Israel opened fire at a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting raw construction materials from a site on which the evacuated Israeli settlement of "Elli Sinai" used to stand in the northern Gaza Strip. One of the workers, Mohammed Hassan Sa'dallah, 21, from Jabalya refugee camp, was wounded by a bullet to the left leg.

At approximately 08:00, Israeli troops stationed at the bordered between the Gaza Strip and Israel near Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing fired at a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting raw construction materials in the industrial zone. As a result, Mohammed Khamis Shalabi, 26, was wounded by a bullet to the left leg.  

At approximately 08:30, Israeli troops stationed at the bordered between the Gaza Strip and Israel near Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing fired at a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting raw construction materials in the industrial zone. As a result, Khaled Mahdi Isma'il, 17, was wounded by a bullet to the left thigh. 

Sunday, 01 August 2010 


At approximately 02:40, Israeli warplanes fired a missile at a farm in the eastern outskirts of  'Abasan village, east of Khan Yunis. The missile left a large crater in the area, but there were no injuries.

At approximately 06:30, Israeli troops stationed at the bordered between the Gaza Strip and Israel opened fire at a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting raw construction materials from a site on which the evacuated Israeli settlement of "Elli Sinai" used to stand in the northern Gaza Strip. One of the workers, Nidal Sha'ban al-Hsoumi, 25, was wounded by a bullet to the left leg.  

Tuesday, 03 August 2010 



At approximately 11:00, Bilal 'Obaid, 21, from Jabalya town in the northern Gaza Strip, was admitted into Balsam Hospital as he was wounded by shrapnel from bullet to the left shoulder. Israeli troops stationed at Beit Hanoun (Erez) coring fired at 'Obaid when he was in the industrial zone near the crossing, collecting construction aggregate.  

Young Man Injured as IOF Open Fire at Civilians Collecting Rubble near Erez Crossing

3-8-2010

Al Mezan

At app. 10:30am on Tuesday 3 August 2010, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF), who are positioned at the northern border fence in the vicinity of Erez crossing, opened fire at the Palestinian civilians who were about 600 meters from the fence. As a result, Belal Obaid, 21, was injured in the left shoulder. According to medical sources at Balsam Hospital, his injury was light. These civilians were attacked while they were collecting rubble from the destroyed structures in the vicinity of Erez crossing, in North Gaza district. Obaid is a resident of Jabalia town in the same district. 

Palestinian Man Injured as IOF Open Fire at Civilians Collecting Rubble northwest of Beit Lahyia

1-8-2010

Al Mezan

At pp. 8:50am on Sunday 1 August 2010, Israeli occupation forces (IOF), who were positioned at the northern separation fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel, opened fire on Palestinian civilians who were about 400 meters from the fence. As a result, Nedal Sha'ban Mohammed Al Husoumi, 25, was injured in the left leg. Medical sources at Kamal Odwan Hospital described his injuries as light. These civilians were attacked while they were collecting rubble from the destroyed structures in the evacuated settlement Eli Sinai northwest of Beit Lahyia, in North Gaza district. Al Husoumi is a resident of Beit Lahyia town.

IOF Attacks East Khan Younis Town of Absan

1-8-2010

Al Mezan

At app. 2:30am on Sunday 1 August 2010, Israeli warplanes fired a missile on an open field in the town of Abasan, east of Khan Younis district. The explosion left a big hole in the ground. No causalities or injuries were reported.

Israeli airstrikes injure 1 in southern Gaza

Gaza – Ma'an – Israeli warplanes fired missiles in the southern Gaza Strip Sunday morning, leaving one Palestinian civilian injured, Ma'an's correspondent said.

The airstrikes hit the Abasan area east of Khan Younis, with the injuries sustained by the civilian described as moderate. The injured was transferred to the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

Israeli warplanes further struck at smuggling tunnels along the Egypt-Gaza border in Rafah, with no casualties reported.

The Israeli military said the strikes were in response to a second day of projectile fire from Gaza, causing heavy damage to a building in southern Israel.

The army added that the air force struck "Hamas-linked terror tunnel and a weapons-smuggling tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip."

The latest airstrikes follow the death of a senior Al-Qassam Brigades leader on Saturday morning as 36-hours of air raids began a day earlier. The Israeli army says it has been responding to the launching of projectiles from Gaza.

Residents have described the apparent escalation in Israeli military action as the "fiercest" since Operation Cast Lead in December 2008.