June 10, 2015 12:22 A.M. (Updated: June 10, 2015 6:25 A.M.)
GAZA
CITY (Ma’an) – Palestinian residents in the Gaza Strip witnessed
ongoing near daily incursions by Israeli forces Wednesday morning as
Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers entered the strip, firing
heavily into the air.Three bulldozers and four military
tanks were observed by residents of the town of al-Qarara working on
Palestinian agricultural land near the Gaza Israel border.Witnesses
said the vehicles came from the Kissufim military base, reporting that
Israeli forces fired gunshots into the air while the bulldozers worked.An
Israeli army spokesperson told Ma'an she had a report of "routine
maintenance" carried out adjacent to the border fence, but had no
further information regarding what type of maintenance was performed.Israeli
authorities maintain a "buffer zone" along the Gaza-Israel border,
however its exact limits are ambiguous. Farmers whose land lies within
or close to the buffer zone face near daily fire or threat of fire from
Israeli forces, often preventing them from cultivating their crops,
rights groups say.
Israeli forces enter the Gaza
Strip on a near-daily basis in contravention of international law, with
Israeli forces opening fire at civilians in the "buffer zone" on land
and sea over ten times between May 26 and June 1, according to the UN
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
According
to Palestinian Center for Human Rights, the buffer zone, which
Palestinians are prohibited from entering, "is illegal under both
Israeli and international law."Wednesday's incident also
came days after Israeli jets launched airstrikes on a military training
base operated by Hamas' military wing in the northern Gaza Strip in
response to a rocket fired at Israel claimed by a group Sheikh Omar
Hadid-Bayt al-Maqdis.The Erez crossing between Gaza and
Israel was temporarily shut following the exchange, amidst an ongoing
8-year blockade of the strip enforced by Israel and supported by Egypt
to the south.
