Israeli military infiltrate Gaza borders, raze land

Israeli army Monday infiltrated Gaza borders from the eastern part of the town of Beit Hanoun to the north of the Gaza Strip, according to witnesses.

Sources said Israeli military vehicles, accompanied by bulldozers, razed land in the area, amid shooting in all directions. However no injuries were reported.

The Israeli military made at least 50 military incursions into the Gaza Strip during 2015 alone, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

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 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 'buffer zone' between Gaza and Israel.

Israel continues to breach a ceasefire deal reached with the Palestinian side on August 26, 2014, following 51 days of deadly aggression on the strip, which claimed the lives of over 2,200 Gaza refugees, overwhelmingly civilians.

Source : WAFA