GAZA, December 9,
2015 (WAFA) – A number of Israeli armored tanks Wednesday infiltrated the
border with Gaza from the eastern part of al-Bureij refugee camp, in central
Gaza Strip, according to local sources.
WAFA correspondent
said three Israeli armored tanks and three bulldozers, stationed at the Israeli
military base along the borderline, advanced over 150 meters into Gaza’s
agricultural land.
During the
provocative incursion, the Israeli military razed agricultural land, and placed
earth mounds, amid sporadic shooting.
Since 2005, Israel
unilaterally imposed a 300-meter-wide buffer zone into the border with Gaza,
sharply affecting the livelihood of tens of thousands of Gaza farmers, who rely
heavily on agriculture to provide for their families.
As of 2010, UN-OCHA
estimated that 35 percent of Gaza's agricultural land is located in
restricted-access areas, affecting the lives and livelihoods of approximately
113,000 people.
Farmers in farmlands
on the borders say their situation has only worsened since the last war ended
in 2014 summer, pointing to the Israeli military's frequent incursions into
their land and its practice of firing live ammunition at farmers who enter the
'buffer zone' between Gaza and Israel.
Israel and the
Palestinian factions signed a ceasefire deal on August 26, 2014 which put an
end to the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, which claimed the lives of over 2,200
Gaza refugees, overwhelmingly civilians.
M.N./T.R.
