Tag: Jabaliya - Page 2 - International Solidarity Movement

Escalation of Israeli attacks on Gaza kills two, injures at least 14, over five days

27th December 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Rosa Schiano | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

An Israeli military vehicle by the separation barrier near Khuza'a. (Photo by Silvia Todeschini) — An Israeli military vehicle by the separation barrier near Khuza’a. (Photo by Silvia Todeschini)

Early on the afternoon on Friday, 20th December, Israeli occupation forces killed a 27-year-old Palestinian, Odah Jihad Hamad, and wounded his brother Raddad, age 22, north of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reports that Israeli forces fired directly at them, although it was clear that the two civilians were collecting steel and plastic from the landfill near the separation barrier. “According to the testimony given by Raddad Hamad to PCHR, at approximately 12:00 on Friday, 20 December 2013, Raddad went with his brother ‘Odah to the landfill near the border area, east of Beit Hanoun, in order to collect plastics and steels for livelihood. At approximately 15:30, when the area was very calm, Israeli forces stationed at the borderline opened fire at them without any prior warning. As a result, Odah was wounded by a bullet to the head and fell onto the ground while Raddad was hiding in a low area. Raddad tried to reach his brother to rescue him, but Israeli forces opened fire at him to wound him by a bullet to the right hand. He immediately fled and managed to call the Palestine Red Crescent Society to send him an ambulance. The ambulance was delayed by Israeli forces till at approximately 16:15 when it obtained coordination through the International Committee of the Red Cross. The ambulance staff searched for ‘Odah to find him wounded and then transferred him to the Beit Hanoun Governmental Hospital. He was entered into the Intensive Care Unit, but a few minutes later, he was pronounced dead.”

Raddad said the ambulance found the body of his brother in another place closer to barrier. Israeli soldiers probably took him, to check if he was alive, then left his body there.

“He was just trying to eke out a living,” his mother said in the morning tent. “He wanted to earn some money to buy wood for our house, because the cooking gas finished,” one of his brothers said. To find cooking gas in Gaza is almost impossible now due to restrictions on imports and the closure of the tunnels.

In addition, three Palestinians were injured by Israeli gunfire near the al-Shohada cemetery east of Jabaliya. Mohammad Ayoub Hammouda, age 23, Dya Ahmad Al Natour, age 17, and Ali Hasan Khalil, age 20, were transported to Kamal Odwan hospital.

Hammouda works in a coal shop near the cemetery. He said he finished his shift and was walking away when he saw a group of men close to his shop. As he asked them to go away, Israeli soldiers started shooting. The shop is next to the barrier. Youth go there to throw stones at the soldiers, especially on Fridays. The Israeli forces begin to shoot without hesitation. Young Palestinians are injured so every week or two in this area. Hammounda worried that the youths near the store wanted to through stones, so he asked them to leave the area.

A bullet struck Hammouda in his right leg. The youths ran away. He lay on the ground 15 minutes before someone came to help him. An ambulance could not reach him, so a young man on a motorcycle carried him to one waiting near Abu Baker mosque. The shop where Hammouda works is 600 meters from the fence. He thinks that the shots came from one of the control towers placed along the border, in which there are automated machine guns.

An Israeli control tower by the separation barrier near Khuza'a. (Photo by Silvia Todeschini) — An Israeli control tower by the separation barrier near Khuza’a. (Photo by Silvia Todeschini)

The bullet that the doctors extracted from Hammouda’s leg during surgery is a 250 mm projectile. The bullet caused a fracture. The doctors have placed an external fixator in his limb. He will keep it for six months.

Hammouda’s family, from the Jabaliya refugee camp, has eleven members. He is the only one with a stable job. His father works occasionally. He earned 30 shekels, about six Euros or eight US dollars, a day. He said he would accept any salary because of unemployment.

The other two Palestinians suffered minor injuries in their lower limbs and were released from the hospital.

On the afternoon of the same day, two men were injured east of Khuza’a in the south of the Gaza Strip. Omar Sobh Qudaih, age 21, and Abdul Halim Alnaqa, age 23, were transported to the European hospital. Qudaih said that around 2:30 pm, they had been collecting beans about 500 meters from the fence. The bullet did not enter his limb. He suffered from superficial wound and needs antibiotics and dressing.

The following day, on Saturday, 21sr December, at about 7:30 am, Israeli soldiers fired at farmers and workers near the barrier Khuza’a. Ismael al-Najjar, a 21-year-old farmer, was wounded in his leg.

Al-Najjar thinks that the bullets were fired from control towers. He said he was with two other workers at about 600 meters from the barrier, and that he had been walking toward his chicken farm. He suffered from a superficial wound. A nurse said his condition is stable.

On Tuesday, 24th December, Israeli forces carried out a series of airstrikes hitting different locations in the Gaza Strip, and shelled different areas along the barrier.

Earlier afternoon, a contractor of the Israeli occupation forces had been killed by a Palestinian resistance group east of Gaza City. Israeli authorities declared that they would respond harshly against Gaza. Shortly afterward, a Palestinian civilian was wounded by Israeli army fire in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip. Government buildings were immediately evacuated.

Western media and others claiming the escalation began with the shooting of the military contractor should be reminded of the killing by Israeli forces of a young Palestinian collecting material from a landfill on Friday.

In the afternoon of 24th December, local sources reported two Palestinians had been killed, included a three-year-old child killed in a bombing of Maghazi in the center of the Gaza Strip. The number of injuries remains imprecise.

Shortly after the shooting of the contractor, Israeli forces reported they had killed a Palestinian along the northern barrier around the Gaza Strip, as Palestinian sources also did later. It later became clear the Israeli army had opened fire at a large tortoise moving slowly along the barrier. Its large size, and its bloodshed after an Israeli missile, led some to speak of a martyr. The occupation hits anything moving along the barrier, including a rare breed of giant tortoise.

The three-year-old girl killed in Maghazi was named Hala Ahmed Abu Sbeikha. Several members of her family were injured, included two children, Mohammed Abu Sbeikha, age six, and Belal Abu Sbeikha, age four.

In the morgue of al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where members of the Abu Sbeikha family were hospitalized, her face was stained with blood.

Members of her family in the hospital included Busaina Abu Sbeikha, 27 years old, and the two wounded children.

“I had gone to visit them and we were seated on the first floor of the house,” an aunt said. “Two bombs fell in few seconds. It was about 3:30 to 4:00 pm. After the second bomb, we climbed to the second floor, where there our children, about ten of them, were. Busaina, with her children, was also there, helping them to study. We found Hala dead. Then we left the house, and a third bomb struck the two-story building, almost completely destroying it. Even the houses nearby were damaged by the bombing. ”

Women from the family told us that it is the first time that their house, in which 30 people lived, had been hit. “Even during the two wars, they never struck us or asked us to evacuate,” they said. Their house is located about 700 meters from the separation barrier east of Maghazi, in an area called Beheiri in the central Gaza Strip. It is a very quiet area.

“The Israelis said they had hit a site of the Palestinian resistance, but it is not true.” No resistance activity had been present in the area, they said.

Busaina Abu Sbeikha has undergone surgery for a shrapnel injury. Her children Belal and Mohammed lay on a bed in the same hospital room. Mohammed was almost asleep because of the painkillers, while Belal’s eyes were wide. He had no reaction when his his face and hair were caressed. Both children were injured by shrapnel.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital received around nine injured civilians that evening, in addition to the dead child.

Besieged Gaza Strip battered by historic storm

16th December 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Silvia Todeschini and Henni | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

Gaza’s bad weather has disrupted access lines and flooded whole areas. Thousands of families have been evacuated. Numerous injuries and two deaths have been reported. The Zionist siege and occupation contribute to aggravating the situation for tens of thousands of people.

The main route of access between the north and south of the Gaza Strip, called Saladin Street has been flooded, making travel very difficuly. A microbus running from Gaza to Rafah must be able to avoid deep pools of water by going from one lane to another, slowly and laboriously climbing over the hedge that separates them. Some cars are blocked because the water is high enough to disable their engines. Carts are pulled by donkeys, who walk with their feet in the water.

The neighborhood of Rafah where Khaled el- Sadi Alul lives is called el- Madakha. He lives with three wives, eleven sons and six daughters in a house that is cold and wet. You can see your own breath. The veil Khaled’s first wife wears seems to smoke because it is damp, and body heat causes its moisture to evaporate.

The woman is particularly sensitive to the cold, because she suffers from asthma and is diabetic. Khaled should also avoid low temperatures, because two weeks ago, pruning a tree, he fell down broke a rib. It puncture his lung, which required a surgery to drain the blood from it. Some of the windows and the roof of the house were destroyed during Israel’s “Operation Cast Leas” military offensive. The roof has been replaced with a sheet of corrugated material which costs little, but contains carcinogenic asbestos.

Khaled says that that at midnight between Thursday and Friday, everyone was at home asleep . They had heard rain, but it did not look heavy, and there was no electricity, so they were in darkness. Sleeping on the floor, they woke up because their mattress was wet. The water came five centimeters above the mattress. They called Civil Defense, but were told the whole Gaza Strip was in a flood emergency, so nothing could be done.

They called the 109. The municipality said it would send a car, but it never arrived. The water that had invaded was sewer. They had to place a pipe out of the home, to ensure that water poured into the yard. Then they had to make a hole in the wall that separates the garden from the space in front of the kitchen door, to let it drain, all in the dark and without power. “We spent horrible hours,” says Khaled ‘s first wife “In three hours we emptied the water that had accumulated in the house with buckets. You can still feel the smell!”

This family is just one example of what bad weather means here in Gaza, and certainly not the worst case. “We pray Allah to end the siege,” Khaled said. “If we had electricity, when something like this happens, at least we could see and understand what is going on.”

For five days, Khaled’s sons have not attended school because it is also flooded. Or perhaps it would be better to say that a lake has formed around it and the school seems to float in it, making it accessible only by boat. Even the football field in front of the school looks like a rectangular lake. A few days ago, water reached the first floors of the houses, and ten families, of a total of 70-80 people, were evacuated by boat through the first floor windows of their homes. Some were taken on Friday evening,, others Thursday morning, to a nearby school that serves as a shelter. But they are not isolated cases.

In the Jabalia refugee camp, which lies at a low point in the north of Gaza, a young man on the street reported that one man had died from the fatal mixture of broken electricity wires and water in the streets. Boys said that last year, three people and one horse were killed the same way: an electrical wire broke and fell into knee-high sewage water, which the wastewater plant and pumps couldn’t move out of city.

Yusuf Khela, manager of the Jabalia municipality, says that two projects have been underway. One project would pump water
directly to the to the wastewater plant further north without passing the sewage treatment plant in Jabalia. To manage this, it would be necessary to pump 3000qm3/h, but because of the fuel shortage, it is often difficult to manage these. The municipality installed two pumps in case one runs out of fuel, to guarantee at least some pumping of water.

Even if there is fuel, it will be expensive, costing 7 NIS per liter. To afford these, the government is even cutting employees’ salaries in order to fuel the pumps. If they stop working, the rain, salt and sewage water mixing together, particularly during the heaviest rain in decades, would first flood all of Jabalia camp.

A second project to manage the camp’s water problems is an infiltration system. Khela says that sometimes UNRWA gives money to cover the coast of fuel for Jabalia camp, if it is not stopped at the separation barrier.

Each year a large amount of NGOs and UN organisations give money in order to supply the fuel and the basic needs of Palestinian people. Unfortunately, it is often not used to meet these needs. Streets gets bigger, even if this means cutting parts from the surrounding houses. But projects like solutions for sewage water in Jabalia camp are set up only after deaths are reported.

Most houses are accessible only by stairs in order to prevent the entry of water. The poorest houses, covered only by thin metal roofs, suffer the most. Heavy winter storms often carry these makeshift roofs away. On 11th December, a young girl died in Khan Younis after one struck her in heavy winds.

Israeli gunfire wounds a Palestinian and injures a child in a resulting accident

25th November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Rosa Schiano | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

Mohammed Adel Afana. (Photo by Rosa Schiano)

On the afternoon of Friday, 22th November 2013, Mohammed Adel Afana, age 22, was injured by Israeli gunfire east of the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.

Adel Afana had gone there with friends. Each Friday, many Palestinians go to the cemetery, which is located about 300 meters from the fence that separates the Gaza Strip from territory occupied by Israel in 1948.

It was between 3:30 and 4:00 pm. Some youths began to throw stones at Israeli soldiers. Adel Afana joined them. In the hospital, he said there had been three Israeli jeeps and about 10 soldiers. A soldier shot his right thigh. The bullet entered and exited, but cut the nerves and left shrapnel inside the limb.

The young men with him called an ambulance. It transported Adel Afana to Kamal Odwan hospital in Jabalia. He was later transferred to the Beit Hanoun hospital for surgery. There doctors removed the shrapnel from his leg and cleaned the still-open wound.

Adel Afana will probably need another surgery due to the severed nerves. Before the interviewed ended, he was transferred to Kamal Odwan hospital again.

He works in a bakery. His family is has 10 members.

Adel Afana was previously wounded on 30th March 2012, Land Day, during the Global March to Jerusalem at the Erez checkpoint in Beit Hanoun. It was a bloody day, with Israeli soldiers targeting and shooting the arms and legs of young protesters. Mahmoud Zaqout, age 19, was killed by a bullet to his chest.

Adel Afana says he was shot in his his right thigh, the same place he was injured on Friday.

In addition, one of his brothers was wounded during Israel’s “Operation Cast Lead” military offensive against the Gaza Strip in 2008-2009. One of his legs was amputated.

“All the gunshot wounds caused by the Israeli army are in sensitive areas of the body,” said Dr. Fayez al-Barrawi in Beit Hanoun hospital. “I have 17 years’ experience in surgery at many hospitals. Most wounds are in the head, chest and legs. More than 95% of them have no hope of cure, even abroad.”

“There is not much hope of recovery,” Dr. al-Barrawi said of Adel Afana’s wound. “It is difficult to reconnect nerves and bring the situation to what it was before.”

Hamada Suleiman al-Barrawi with his mother. (Photo by Rosa Schiano)

The second injured patient lay in the same hospital room as Adel Afana. Hamada Suleiman al-Barrawi, age 15, complained of pain, despite the administration of analgesics.

Hamada saw Adel Afana’s injury. In hysterics, and near a nervous breakdown, he began running aimlessly until he fell. The fall has fractured his right arm and some veins. He already underwent one surgery and will face another.

Hamada already experienced a tragic story. His cousin Bilal al-Barrawi, age 20, was killed by Israeli forces in November, during their “Operation Pillar of Defense” military offensive. When Hamada saw his body, he began having hysterical reaction to the sight of injuries. He doesn’t control his movement and his memory is affected. A doctor said his case is difficult due to the rupture of his veins.

The ceasefire of 21st November 2012 established that Israeli occupation 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 followed from the day after the ceasefire, and Israeli warplanes fly constantly over the Gaza Strip. Seven civilians have been killed by Israeli occupation forces since the end of their last major offensive, “Operation Pillar of Defense,” and more than 130 have been wounded.

These attacks on the Gaza Strip continue amid international silence.

Israeli navy captures two Gaza fishermen, including one injured by gunfire

13th November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Rosa Schiano | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

An Israel naval gunship cruises near the Gaza seaport on Wednesday, 13 November. (Photo by Rosa Schianp) — An Israel naval gunship cruises near the Gaza seaport on Wednesday, 13th November. (Photo by Rosa Schianp)

On the morning of Sunday, 10th November, brothers Saddam Abu Warda (age 23) and Mahmoud Abu Warda (age 18) were captured by the Israeli navy in Palestinian waters off the Gaza Strip. They were released later in the evening and their boat was confiscated. Mahmoud was injured by a bullet in the right side of his abdomen.

We went to visit the two young fishermen in their home in the town of Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip.

In the absence of electricity, the house was dark like most homes in Gaza Strip, which is stifled by the siege and a severe fuel crisis. Without electricity, water could not reach the house’s plumbing system.

“We cast our nets into the sea at a distance of about 500 meters from the forbidden fishing area,” Saddam told us. “We were far away from the Israeli gunboats.” The two fishermen were on a small boat, or hasaka, without an engine.

Saddam told us that an Israeli gunboat approached their boat. The soldiers shouted for them to leave in less than five minutes. “We had to cut our nets in order to flee,” Saddam said. “The soldiers came closer to us and started shooting at our boat.”

Without a motor, the two fishermen could not escape. The Israeli soldiers ordered the two fishermen to undress and jump into the water. Meanwhile, they continued to open the fire. “I was shocked,” Saddam said. “I could not move. They were shooting, and I thought I would be killed.”

As we listened to Saddam, F-16 fighter jets rumbled overhead at low altitudes, a constant threat in the darkness.

“I shouted, asking the soldiers to stop shooting and save our lives,” Saddam said. According to him, another Israeli gunboat reached them and attacked the fishermen using water cannons. The two fishermen jumped into the water. “Three Israeli gunboats surrounded us, our boat was now far away, and the water was cold,” he added. The soldiers told them to swim to the forbidden maritime area. “I was scared. My brother was away from me, and the soldiers kept firing. He was wounded. He could not swim. I reached him to save him. His blood was everywhere in the sea. Two Israeli dinghies reached us. The soldiers took my brother Mahmoud and closed his wound to stop the bleeding. They didn’t take me, too. They left me in the water. They told me to swim the marker that delimits the maritime area allowed by Israel, then took me. They covered my head. I could not see anything. They pointed a gun at my head and cuffed my hands and feet. They hit me, kicking me on the back. Then I fainted for about an hour. I don’t remember anything more.”

Mahmoud (left) and Saddam Abu Warda. (Photo by Rosa Schiano)

The two fishermen were transported to a medical center in the port of Ashdod. “When I woke up, I saw my brother beside me,” Saddam said. “Two soldiers then took me to a special room and interrogated me. They asked me why we were fishing in the forbidden area. I told them that we were 500 meters away from the limit, and that the soldiers forced us to swim until we reached it. An investigator asked me how my brother was wounded, since it was not by the Israeli soldiers. I told him my brother was wounded by Israeli gunfire. The investigator tried to convince me that Mahmoud was not wounded by the soldiers. Then I told him that three Israeli gunboats were shooting over our heads and my brother’s blood was everywhere in the sea”.

The investigators then showed Saddam a map on a laptop, placing their boat in the forbidden maritime area. Investigators interrogated the two fishermen individually. Afterwards, the two brothers were detained in another room, and at the end of the day, were transferred to Erez, where they received another interrogation. “They asked me about my family, my neighbors, fishermen, and every detail of my life,” said Saddam. “Then they showed me a map and asked me about every house around my home. They also asked me how many boats I had.”

The Israeli port of Ashdod now holds three boats belonging to Saddam’s family. In the past, in fact, other members of the Abu Warda family had been arrested and seen their boats confiscated. Now they have none left.

After interrogation, the fishermen were detained in a cell for two hours before being released through the Erez checkpoint later in the evening.

Saddam’s family has 15 members. Fishing is their only source of livelihood. The other eight brothers are also fishermen. They don’t have any other source of income, and they don’t believe they will get their boats back.

Mahmoud showed us the wound on the right side of his abdomen. The bullet did not enter his body, but brushed it. Doctors in the Ashdod medical center closed his wound with two stitches. Mahmoud also told us of the physical and verbal abuse he received from Israeli soldiers. We asked him if he will return to fishing. “Of course,” he said. “We have no choice. We have to face the danger.”

What its fishermen earn only allows the Abu Warda family to survive. Sometimes, they return home without anything. Other times, what they earn only covers the cost of fuel.

The fishermen told us that they would like more support from the international associations, especially when they are in the north of the Gaza strip. There, attacks are more frequent and the majority of confiscated boats have been lost.

We continue to hope that one day the international community will break its silence and force Israel to stop attacking Gaza fishermen, and to release all their boats it has confiscated.

Background

Israel has progressively imposed restrictions on Palestinian fishermen’s access to the sea. The 20 nautical miles established under the Jericho agreements, between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1994, were reduced to 12 miles in the Bertini Agreement of 2002. In 2006, the area Israel allowed for fishing was reduced to six nautical miles from the coast. After its military offensive “Operation Cast Lead” (December 2008 – January 2009) Israel imposed a limit of three nautical miles from the coast, preventing Palestinians from accessing 85% of the water to which they are entitled under the Jericho agreements of 1994.

Under the ceasefire agreement reached by Israel and the Palestinian resistance after the Israeli military offensive “Operation Pillar of Defense” (November 2012), Israel agreed that Palestinian fishermen could again sail six nautical miles from the coast. Despite these agreements, the Israeli navy has not stopped its attacks on fishermen, even within this limit. In March 2013, Israel once again imposed a limit of three nautical miles from the coast. On 22 May, Israeli military authorities announced a decision to extend the limit to six nautical miles again.

Palestinian farmer wounded by Israeli army fire

7th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Rosa Schiano | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

Sunday morning a young Palestinian farmer was wounded by Israeli army fire in an area called Abu Safiyeh, East of Jabalia, in the Northern Gaza Strip.

Hamdan’s wounded leg (Photo: Rosa Schiano)

The young man, Ahmad Hamdan, 21, was rushed to the hospital Kamal Odwan. We went to visit him in the hospital where we met some of his family members.

According to his uncle Eyad Hamdan, at around 6:00 am on Sunday, June 2, Ahmad was going to pick watermelons along with four or five other workers. Ahmad’s family does not own land, Ahmad is a simple worker in the fields.

That morning there were many farmers’ families, children, and bird hunters out in the fields. There were Israeli jeeps on the border and the workers had warned of gunfire but did not bother because they were far from the barrier that separates Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Ahmad and other workers were heading to work on a wagon when the bullet hit Ahmad. He was injured before he had started work, at about 6:30 in the morning. The chariot on which he stood was about 400-500 meters from the separation barrier. The soldiers of the Israeli army probably fired from one of the towers of control, or by using a small hill behind which they often station themselves.

The cousin of Ahmad, Ammar Hamdan, 22, was with them. “When Ahmad was injured, some of them were trying to hide in order to escape from the bullets, while others were left with Ahmad and they called an ambulance. Ahmad was put in a private car and transported to an area away from danger and an ambulance arrived after 10 minutes.”

Family members told us that they used to go to work in that area 2-3 days a week to pick watermelons. “It ‘s the first time that they shot at us at that distance from the barrier. Due to the economic conditions of the family, Ahmad has to work in dangerous areas,” Eyad said.

The family of Ahmad is composed of 11 members, two parents and 9 children – 2 daughters and 7 sons. Ahmad is the largest of the children. The father did not have a steady job. His son Ahmad worked by collecting debris and other material for resale to be able to support their families. They live in Beit Hanoun, in the Northern Gaza Strip.

The bullet entered and exited from the right leg of Ahmad and provoked a femoral fracture. The doctors have placed an external fixation on the leg. Inside the leg there are bone fragments. Relatives told us that the doctors will then evaluate the condition of the muscles and nerves.

“After what we saw we did not return to work there”, said Eyad. Beside the bed of Ahmad was sitting her aunt and her tears would not stop falling.

After the visit we met Dr. Ahmad Bassam Al Masri, Head of Orthopaedics Department of the hospital Kamal Odwan. Dr. Al Masri told us that Ahmed suffered a compound fracture of the right femur. It is a third degree open fracture, which does not require neurovascular injury. The open wound measured about 10-15cm across. Dr. Al Masri told us that the doctors had placed an external fixation in the leg and that Ahmad will require a new operation in which the external fixation is removed and they will place an internal fixation and carry out a bone graft. This second operation will take place in around 2-3 weeks or a month. After surgery, rehabilitation will last from six months to a year. “The blow of a firearm delays the formation of the bones. Generally a normal fracture requires 4 months of rehabilitation,” explained Dr. Al Masri.

The agreements for the cease-fire reached after the Israeli military offensive “Pillar of Defense” on 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 Gaza, by land, by sea and by air, including raids and targeted killings.” However, Israeli military attacks by land and sea have continued since the very day of the cease-fire. Since the beginning of the ceasefire there have been 4 civilians killed and more than 90 injured in the areas along the border.

In 2005, Israel unilaterally and illegally established a so-called “buffer zone” inside Palestinian territory, an area that farmers cannot access and that is reinforced by the Israeli army firing on civilians in the area. As reported by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, preventing the access of Palestinians to their land and maritime areas violates numerous provisions of international humanitarian law, including the right to work and the right to a dignified life. These attacks against the civilian population continue amidst a deafening silence from the international community.

We will continue to expose these violations until the Palestinian people are entitled to the same rights as anyone else, such that the world will one day understand the tears of the many bereaved mothers of Gaza.