IOF troops fire at a peaceful demonstration

IOF troops fire at a peaceful demonstration

RAFAH, — IOF troops on Thursday fired at a peaceful demonstration, east of the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, against the “security zone”, a 300-meter-wide area at the border with 1948-occupied Palestine which the Israeli occupation imposes on the Gaza Strip.

Dr. Muaweyah Hasaneen, the director of ambulance and emergency at the ministry of health, said that a young Palestinian man was injured by a rubber coated bullet and was treated on site.

IOF troops dispersed the demonstration by firing rubber coated bullets, stun grenades and teargas canisters at the demonstrators who numbered around 300 Palestinians and five international activists affiliated with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

Participants raised placards rejecting the security zone and affirming the rights of Palestinians to make use of their land, which at the moment they risk getting shot if they approach.

Coordinator of the popular campaign to resist the security zone, Ziad al-Sarafandy, said: “We will continue to demonstrate as long as the Israeli army continues to confiscate Palestinian land.”

Over the past three months Palestinians and international activists organised a series of demonstrations at the border to protest the “security zone” which eats up about 20% of the area of the Gaza Strip and consists mostly of agricultural land the owners of which have been denied the right of utilizing.

On Wednesday, a Palestinian teenager was killed by an IOF bullet participating in a such a demonstration near Nahal Oz crossing east of Gaza city.

Last Sunday, five Palestinians and a Maltese activists were wounded by IOF troops fire east of al-Mgahzi refugee camp.