GAZA, January 30, 2016 (WAFA) – Israeli soldiers Saturday opened fire on Palestinian farmers tending to their land located along the borderline with Israel to the south and north of the Gaza Strip.

WAFA correspondent informed WAFA that soldiers stationed at watchtowers along the borderline to the east of Rafah, south of Gaza, opened their machine gunfire on a group of farmers, and forced them off their land.

Meanwhile, other army soldiers stationed adjacent to the Israeli-controlled Beit Hanoun crossing ‘Erez’ to the north of the strip, targeted farmers to the east of the town of Beit Hanoun, with gunfire.  However, no injuries were reported,

Israeli Forces routinely open fire on Palestinian farmers and other civilians if they approach large tracts of borderline land that Israeli forces have deemed off- to Palestinians as well as on fishing boats sailing within the six-nautical-miles zone.

The buffer zone extends between 500 meters and 1500 meters into the Strip, effectively turning local farms into no-go zone.

According to UNOCHA, 17 percent of Gaza‘s total land area and 35 percent of its agricultural land lie within the buffer zone as of 2010, directly affecting the lives and livelihoods of more than 100,000 Gaza residents.

Farmers in farmland 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 sizable ‘buffer zone’ between Gaza and Israel.

Israel and the Palestinian factions inked a ceasefire deal on August 26th, ending the latest deadly Israeli onslaught on Gaza that claimed the lives of over 2,200 people, overwhelmingly civilians.

Israel has imposed a tightened blockade since 2007 after Hamas won the democratic legislative elections and took over power in the strip. 

T.R.