Israeli violations of truce keep Gazans on edge
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reports that violations of the truce continue, with Israeli forces still firing across the border, hitting civilians and houses and making the entire area unlivable.
KHAN YUNIS, Gaza Strip — The Israeli army has broken the peace many times in the six months since the end of the last war on the Gaza Strip, which ended with the signing of truce by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Aug. 26, 2014.
Al-Monitor reviewed the weekly reports issued by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights from the end of the war up until Feb. 18. The study listed many Israeli violations, among them that occupation forces shot and killed Fadel Halaweh in the border region east of Jabalia as he was hunting birds Nov. 26 and a drone targeted and killed a resistance fighter east of Khan Yunis Dec. 24. Israeli forces also wounded 40 civilians in various areas along the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, among them one resistance fighter and five fishermen at sea.
The occupation forces also arrested 66 civilians, including 30 who were apprehended as they tried to cross the border that separates the Gaza Strip from Israel. Another 35 fishermen were arrested at sea, most of them subsequently released. The forces also destroyed nine boats, conducted three air raids against resistance positions and breached the border on eight separate occasions in many locations, penetrating as far as 200 meters (656 feet).
The reports indicate that occupation forces fire across the border or target fishermen on a near daily basis. The center described these violations as repeated breaches of the truce, stating, “The border regions between Israel and the Gaza Strip witnessed several shootings by the occupation forces after the most recent aggression on Gaza ended. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights strongly condemns the ongoing use of excessive force by the occupation forces against civilians.”
