Israeli Forces Injure Two Palestinians with Live Fire

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) continue to launch attacks against Palestinian farmers and their agricultural lands in areas near the eastern and northern borders of Gaza where the Israeli authority maintains a buffer zone known as the access restricted areas (ARA). Israel maintains the ARA through the use of live fire, limited incursions, land destruction, and arrests and detention, as part of its closure and siege policy of the Gaza Strip. The IOF has been known to pursue the practice whereby moving objects in the ARA are immediately made the object of attack. Hundreds of Palestinian farmers and residents of the ARA are deprived of their right to work, and therefore their source of living, and their right to freedom of movement. The Israeli authority consumes a huge portion of Palestinian agricultural lands for this practice – ranging up to 1.5 kilometers – without military necessity.

The monitoring and documentation conducted by Al Mezan Center for Human Rights (Al Mezan) shows that since the beginning of 2016 the IOF have carried out 155 attacks in the ARA, including repeated shootings, arterially shelling, and limited incursions. The victims of these attacks are mostly farmers, shepherds, bird hunters, people who go for picnics, and people participating in non-violent demonstrations. The attacks have resulted in the death of seven Palestinians, including two children and one woman, and injury to 155 people, including 26 children and one woman. Israel’s practices in the ARA have a serious impact on the lives and livelihoods of the civilians who live in the border areas.

According to Al Mezan’s monitoring and documentations, at approximately 6:30 pm on Friday, 29 July 2016, IOF, positioned to the southeast of Al Bureij refugee camp, opened fire at Samah Mohammed Al Na’ami, 38. She was walking down a street parallel to the separation fence to the west, near a piece of land owned by her family. As a result, Al Na’ami sustained a surface bullet wound in her left shoulder. Al Na’ami stated to Al Mezan that she was seeing her husband who was working on the family plot of land when she was injured.

At approximately 6:00 pm on Friday, 29 July 2016, IOF opened fire at a popular solidarity event. The protest, in solidarity with Jerusalem and the broader West Bank, attracted hundreds of young men and children to the southeast area of Al Bureij refugee camp.  As a result, Mohammed Mohammed Al ‘Isawi, 22, sustained a bullet wound to his right leg.

At approximately 7:15 am on Wednesday, 20 July 2016, IOF opened fire at agricultural fields east of Dier Al Balah. As a result, Awni Hasan Abu Gharaba, 38, sustained a rubber-coated bullet wound in her left thigh. Awni was irrigating crops in his field at the time, about 700 meters away from the separation fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel.

In the evening hours of Tuesday, 12 July 2016, IOF opened fire at a number of farmers and bird hunters who were in Al Qatbaniya area, eastern Beit Hanoun, in the North Gaza district. As a result, Ahmed Ibrahim Na’im, 26, sustained bullet a wound in his right hand.

Al Mezan strongly condemns Israel’s continued attacks against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip that are carried out within the context of an illegal closure and siege and which ultimately endanger and violate the basic right to life. Al Mezan deplores the silence of the international community, which has allowed the Israeli government to continue to perpetrate grave violations of the human rights of Palestinians and maintain the status quo in contravention of international humanitarian law obligations.

Accordingly, Al Mezan reiterates its calls on the international community to promptly intervene to end the Israeli violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law; to achieve justice in the oPt; and to bring perpetrators involved in the planning and commission of Israeli war crimes to justice.