Monday, October 3, 2011

Medics: Teenager shot by soldiers near Gaza City

An Israeli soldier aims his rifle towards Palestinians during a demonstration
against the Israeli separation wall in the West Bank village of Bilin near
Ramallah November 30, 2007. (MaanImages/Medyan Dairieh)
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli soldiers shot and injured a Palestinian teenager southeast of Gaza City on Monday, medics and an Israeli army spokeswoman said.

Spokesman for Gaza's ambulance and emergency committee Adham Abu Salmiya told Ma'an that a 16-year-old boy was shot in his left leg while collecting scrap metal in the Juhor ad-Dik area southeast of Gaza City.

The victim was taken to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City where medics said his injuries were moderate.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said that five suspects had been acting "suspiciously" near the security fence and after failing to heed orders to move away, were fired upon.

A direct hit on one of the suspects was confirmed, the spokeswoman added.

In the past, workers collecting stones and other construction materials along the buffer zone in north and eastern Gaza have been targeted by Israeli soldiers.

Many of those injured are desperately poor Palestinian workers who venture into the exclusion zone to gather gravel and other construction scrap from what remains of the former Israeli settlements in the north.

In 2010, Defense for Children International documented 14 cases between March and October of Palestinian youths under the age of 18 who were shot by Israeli forces while collecting gravel in the border zone.

While a few of these teens were shot as close as 50 meters from the border, others were 500, 600, even 800 meters from the border when the shooting occurred.

The youngest of these children was 13, the oldest 17.


Maan News Agency

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