Gazan farmers forced to leave land after Israeli forces open fire

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Palestinian farmers were forced to leave their fields early Saturday after Israeli forces opened fire east of Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, witnesses said.

Witnesses told Ma’an that Israeli soldiers stationed on the Israeli side of the borderline opened fire on the farmers while they were tending to their land. No injuries were reported.An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that Israeli forces fired "warning shots" into the air when "suspects" approached the border fence, causing them to retreat.

Palestinian farmers whose land lies within or close to an Israeli-enforced buffer zone along the border with Israel face near-daily fire or threat of fire from Israeli forces, often preventing them from cultivating their crops, according to documentation by rights groups.Israeli authorities have maintained the buffer zone since 2005, although its exact limits have changed over the years and remain unclear in many cases.Approximately 35 percent of Palestinian agricultural land in Gaza is inaccessible without high personal risk, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs last month reported at least 42 cases of Israeli forces opening fire on Palestinians in the buffer zone, on both land and sea sides.

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