GAZA CITY
Twelve Palestinians were injured by Israeli gunfire near the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel on Friday, the Gaza Health Ministry has said.
Hundreds of Palestinian activists staged a Friday demonstration east of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip to demand the lifting of a 300-meter-deep Israel-imposed buffer zone along the border, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qadra told Anadolu Agency.
Israeli troops fired live ammunition and teargas at protesters, leaving 12 suffering slight to moderate gunshot injuries, he added.
According to al-Qadra, 11 were shot in the legs while another was shot in the abdomen.
Five others suffered teargas inhalation, he added.
In late 2012, an Egypt-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian resistance faction Hamas, the latter of which governs the Gaza Strip, ended eight days of cross-border fighting.
Although the ceasefire deal calls for Israeli forces to withdraw from the buffer zone to allow Palestinian farmers to cultivate their land, shootings in the area by Israeli troops have continued.
Palestinian agricultural workers in the north and east of the coastal enclave, meanwhile, face frequent attacks and land incursions by Israeli forces.
The Israeli army claims that its forces only shoot at or arrest Palestinians who try to approach the separation fence between the two territories.
By Mohamed Maged
englishnews@aa.com.tr
