Thursday, December 23, 2010

Medics: 1 dead after shooting on Gaza border

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian shepherd died Thursday hours after Israeli troops shot him and three others along the border with Israel inside northern Gaza, medics said.

Salamah Abu Hashish, 22, sustained wounds to the back in the shooting, which occurred north of Beit Lahiya, Gaza medical services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya told Ma'an.

Abu Hashish was the 13th Palestinian to be killed and the 34th to be injured since November near the border, which Israel considers a combat zone but residents call home.

Two Palestinians were critically injured in Thursday's shooting, Abu Salmiya said. One of them, a 14-year-old boy, sustained wounds to the head while collecting stones, he added.

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Shepherd killed; 3 injured in Northern Gaza

Thursday December 23, 2010 18:22 by Alessandra Bajec - IMEMC & Agencies
The Israeli army fired at four Palestinian farmers and shepherds in the northern part of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing one and wounding three, local sources reported.
(photo from Press TV)
(photo from Press TV)

Troops opened fire on a number of Palestinians, leaving four of them wounded. After being brought to the hospital, 22-year old Salamah Abu Hashish succumbed to his wounds. He had been shot in the back by Israeli troops stationed at the border.

Another of the victims was a 14-year old boy who was critically injured when he was shot in the head while collecting rubble near where Abu Hashish was tending his sheep.

Abu Hashish is the 13th Palestinian to be killed in the border area since November, according to local medics.

Many Palestinians, including women and children, search through the debris at the sites of the former Israeli settlements in Gaza. The scavengers sell the materials they find, as a meager source of income in the midst of the Israel-imposed siege on the coastal enclave.

In the border area, declared by Israel to be a "restricted" zone, troops often shoot at the rubble collectors.

The all-out land, air and sea blockade has been depriving the Gazan population of food, fuel and other necessities since mid-June 2007.
A third person, aged 19, was moderately injured in his hand, medics said, and an 18-year-old was hurt near the Erez crossing in a separate shooting incident, Abu Salmiya said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed that forces shot two Palestinians.

She added that the army fired warning shots before firing at the workers' lower bodies. The forces opened fire because the Palestinians refused to turn back, she said.

"This area is considered a combat zone used by terrorist organizations to execute attacks," the spokeswoman added. "For this reason, the IDF will not allow anyone to be present in it."