Limited Israeli Incursion North of Beit Lahyia

Al Mezan

13-6-2013

At approximately 7:50 pm, on Thursday June 13^th 2013, Israeli occupation forces moved under fire and air cover for about 300 meters into Boura Abu Samra area, north of Beit Lahyia. The Israeli attack forced the farmers to abandon their fields in case of further violence. According to a farmer’s affidavit, three Israeli military jeeps stopped in front of the area, and loaded a military force consisting of 30 soldiers began sporadically firing in the area. On the next day, June 14^th 2013, at approximately 11:00 am, the farmer’s heard shooting then they saw the force withdrew from the area inside the separation fence. No causalities or injuries were reported.

Army Opens Fire At Palestinians In Khan Younis

Thursday June 13, 2013 11:30 by IMEMC & Agencies

[Thursday morning June 13 2013] Israeli military vehicles, stationed across the border with Gaza, opened fire at Palestinian farmers and homes in Abasan Al-Kabeera town, east of the southern West Bank district of Khan Younis.

File - Paltoday.ps

Eyewitnesses have reported the soldiers, stationed on the eastern border of Abasan, fired several rounds of live ammunition in an attempt to force the residents out of their lands, close to the border.

The farmers left lands, and their agricultural equipment, as they ran for their lives.

The area is one of many border areas, subject to frequent similar attacks targeting the farmers, their lands and their homes.

Soldiers also repeatedly carry out limited invasions into border areas, bulldoze and uproot farmlands and destroy property.

On Tuesday [June 11], a number of armored Israeli military vehicles invaded an area east of the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, in central Gaza, no clashes or injuries were reported.

Man wounded by Israeli gunfire in the southern Gaza Strip

11th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Rosa Schiano | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

On the morning of Monday, 10th June, a Palestinian man was injured by Israeli army fire while working in the area of ​​Sufa, southern Gaza Strip, near the barrier with Israel.

Amer Abu Hadayed, 20 years, hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit of the European hospital (Photo by Rosa Schiano)

Hadayed Abu Amer, 20, was picking up rocks and stones to be sold as building material along with his brothers Yasser and Saher. The three had gone to work at 6:00 am aboard a tuk-tuk.

An Israeli military jeep approached them so they left the area, but returned soon after to continue working. At this point the soldiers started shooting in their direction. At about 7:00am the three men, who were about 30 meters from the barrier that separates Israel from the Gaza Strip, tried to flee to avoid being hurt, but Amer was hit in the shoulder by one of the bullets.

Amer and one of his brothers fled while the third followed them with the tuk-tuk. Amer was subsequently transported to the hospital.

The three men earn 80 shekels for a day’s work, of which 15 shekels usually goes to the driver of the tuk-tuk. In practice the men earn about six euros each daily, working every day in an area of extreme danger.

Amer is still in the intensive care unit of the European hospital just south of Khan Younis. He said that the soldiers had also shot at he and his brothers two weeks previously but they had been able to escape.

Dr. Ihab Alassal reported that the bullet entered and exited the body of Amer. His condition is now stable. He reported an accumulation of blood in the pleural space, that is, the space between the lung and the chest wall. Dr. Alassal added that Amer is now under observation and being monitored for vascular access and blood pressure. He added that if his condition worsens, Amer could undergo exploratory surgery.

Amer in the hospital (Photo by: Rosa Schiano)

Amer’s family consists of ten members: two parents, two daughters and six sons. One of the sons, Mahmoud, 24, works as a barber, while three male children collect stones to be sold. The rest are unemployed. They live in Khan Younis, in an area called Al Junra, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Mahmoud was with one of the brothers outside the intensive care unit. He constantly repeated “I’m desperate,” talking about the harsh economic conditions prevailing in his family. He dreams of leaving Gaza, to move to Italy or elsewhere, in hope of a better future.

“We will never return to pick up stones,” said Yasser whose eyes told everything about the fear that this attack had brought about.

The siege that Israel has illegally imposed on the Gaza Strip has produced a failing economy and then on another level mass unemployment. The limited amount of construction material entering through the Karm Abu Salem crossing (Kerem Shalom) forces Palestinian companies to require people to collect stones for the construction of buildings. The majority of these stones are found near the border areas – where Palestinian buildings have been destroyed or bulldozed by the Israeli army.

The arrangements for the ceasefire of 21st November 2012 established that the Israeli military forces should “refrain from hitting residents in areas along the border” and “cease hostilities in the Gaza Strip by land, by sea and by air, including raids and targeted killings.”

However, Israeli military attacks by land and sea have followed from the day after the ceasefire, and Israeli warplanes fly constantly over the sky in the Gaza Strip. In the border areas four civilians have been killed since the end of the “Pillar of Defense” military offensive, and at least 90 civilians have been wounded.

These attacks against the civilian population of Gaza continue to occur, yet are met with silence by the international community.

You can read International Action for Palestine’s report here.

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Al Mezan

11-6-2013

Rubble Collector in Intensive Care Unit from Israeli Forces’ Shot

At approximately 7:00 am on Monday June 10th 2013, Israeli Forces positioned near the separation fence east of Khan Younis, opened fire towards a number of rubble and gravel collectors near Sofa Crossing, east of Al Fokhari town, east of Khan Younis. In the attack, Amer Mazen Shehda Abu Hadayid, 21, was shot and injured with a bullet entering his left shoulder and exiting his body through his upper chest. Amer was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Gaza European Hospital.
According to Sahir Abu Hadayid’s affidavit to Al Mezan, the two, together with their third brother, Yassir, 19, were collecting rubbles at a distance of 100 meters from the separation fence. After spending less than an hour at work, at approximately 7:00 am, Sahir saw an Israeli military jeep idling inside the separation fence. Four soldiers got out of the jeep and one of them spoke in Arabic, saying, “leave this area”. We heard gunshots and we rushed to escape from the area. A few moments later, Amer told me that he had been shot and he fell to the ground. I saw blood on his shirt and immediately my brother and I brought him to Gaza European Hospital. He was admitted to the intensive care unit.

Israeli Forces Open fire at Farmers in Gaza Strip

Al Mezan

11-6-2013

At 9:10 am on Tuesday, June 11^th 2013, Israeli forces positioned at the eastern separation fence opened fire towards farmers in Al Qatbanyia area, east of Beit Hanoun in Gaza. The farmers in the area left their fields for the day due to the chance of continued violence by Israeli forces. No causalities or injuries were reported.

Israeli Forces Carry Out Limited Incursion into Deir Al Balah

Al Mezan

11-6-2013

At approximately 5:00 am on Tuesday, June 11^th 2013, Israeli forces in three tanks and five bulldozers moved into lands in the Deir Al Balah governorate, reaching 150 meters into the Gaza Strip. For two hours the bulldozers razed lands near the separation fence, after which they moved westward into the eastern parts of Wadi Al Salqa where the Israeli incursion continued another four hours before withdrawal.

Palestinian man shot by Israeli rifle fire

10th June 2013 | International Action for Palestine, Nicholas Lillard | Khuza’a, Occupied Palestine

A twenty-one year old named Amer Abu Hadayed was shot while working today in Gaza Strip’s buffer zone. His routine of extracting stones used for building by hand was disrupted when multiple shots were directed at him from one of four Israeli vehicles located on the other side of the apartheid fence.

Amer was not a threat to the army, nor was he threatening the safety of any Israeli. He is a civilian that was doing his job along with three coworkers in a field east of Rafah, near the Sufa landfill.

Myself and another International activist heard the gunfire from a distance while accompanying other harvesters north of the area where the aggression ensued.

Abu Hadayed gave us an account of the event while in a frail condition at the European hospital’s ICU unit. The soldier that fired upon him stepped out from one of three jeeps that regularly patrol the border which is in coordination with an armored hummer that has a large, remote controlled gun mounted on top of it. This sort of weaponry is supposedly for the security of the rest of the patrol.

Amer Abu Hadayed in the hospital (Photo by Nicholas Lillard)

This attack of a young man proceeds a violation that incidentally was inflicted upon another twenty-one year old named Ahmad Hamdan eight days ago. Ahmad was injured by a bullet on the second of June, the impact caused a fracturing of his right femur.

In Amer’s case he did not receive any bone fracturing and based upon the placement of the wound such an injury would be a minor concern compared to the alternatives. The bullet entered the left side of his upper chest, barely missing his lung. The path of the projectile also missed hitting the auxiliary artery that is mere inches from the lung, this location also holds an extensive amount of nerves which were apparently missed as well. Amer moved his arm around to show that he continues to have at least partial range of motion. He will remain in the ICU for another day so that any potential complications can be monitored and dealt with immediately. The nurses said that his bleeding is minimal and that they’re mostly watching his recovery to make sure no hemorrhaging is going to take place.

This incident is nothing short of a crime that was orchestrated by the Israeli army to further oppress the Palestinian people. It is a clear violation of Amer Abu Hadayed’s human rights and yet another example of the continued ethnic cleansing the Zionist regime perpetrates on a regular basis.

Gaza Strip: Attacks in the border areas and their consequences

PCHR

Following disengagement from the Gaza Strip in September 2005, Israel unilaterally and illegally established a so-called “buffer zone”, an area prohibited to Palestinians along the land and sea borders of the Gaza Strip. The precise area designated by Israel as a “buffer zone” is not clear and this Israeli policy is typically enforced with live fire. The establishment of the ‘buffer zone’ is illegal under both Israeli and international law.

To download the full Fact Sheet Click Here..

Farming in Khuza’a, Gaza Strip

5th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Gal·la | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
Farmers are working in Gaza buffer zone under threat of Israeli soldiers, tanks, bullets, etc. This video shows the difficulty of daily life for farmers in Khuza’a, south of Gaza Strip.

Limited Israeli Incursion Northeast of Beit Lahyia

Al Mezan

4-6-2013

At approximately 5:30 pm on Tuesday June 4^th 2013, Israeli military forces in three bulldozers moved under fire and air cover into Gaza reaching a distance of 200 meters from the fence. They headed towards Damara area northeast of Beit Hanoun. Farmers were forced to leave their fields, mostly melon fields, in case of further violence. According to Al Mezan documentation, the Israeli bulldozers began digging a trench and razing the lands nearby the separation fence. After few minutes, a huge explosion was heard in the area from the same force, which withdrew from the area an hour after the incursion began. No causalities or injuries were reported.

Israeli forces shoot, injure Gaza farmer

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- A Palestinian farmer was shot and injured by Israeli fire Sunday while he was picking watermelons in Abu Safiyeh neighborhood east of Jabalia, northern Gaza, medics told Ma'an.

Ahmad Hamdin, 21, sustained an injury to his thigh and was evacuated to the Kamal Udwan Hospital in Jabalia, northern Gaza, medics said.

In response to a request for comment, the Israeli army confirmed the injury and said several Palestinians had "attempted to damage" the border fence between Gaza and Israel.

The army said it had asked them to stop approaching the fence, then opened fire at "their lower extremities, identifying a hit."