In a report issued on Sunday the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) said that Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) escalated over the past month attacks in the buffer zone east of the Gaza Strip.
The PCHR documented 47 Israeli violations in the buffer zone since January including 31 in the border areas and 16 in the maritime area.
The reported violations include 34 shooting attacks seven bombings three incursions and three arrest cases.
The violations had resulted in the martyrdom of two Palestinians including a child and the injury of 70 others including 13 children.
The term “buffer zone” in land and at sea is used for land and sea areas which were unilaterally and illegally declared by Israeli forces as areas with no access along the eastern and northern borders and in the sea of the Gaza Strip following the Israeli Disengagement Plan in 2005.
In violation of the provisions of the international humanitarian law the Gaza Strip’s population are denied access to their property in the “buffer zone” in land while the fishermen are prevented from sailing and fishing in the “buffer zone” at sea .
The area of the buffer zone vary from time to time according to the Israeli forces declarations without taking in consideration the international law that bans any changes to the occupied territories.
According to Israeli forces instructions the “buffer zone” extends to an area ranging between 100 to 1500 meters in some eastern land borders while ranges between 3 to 9 nautical miles in the Gaza Strip sea.
Along the same line al-Mizan Center for Human Rights reported 36 Israeli shooting attacks against Palestinian fishermen since the beginning of 2018.
Ten fishermen were arrested during the reported period while five others were injured. Three fishing boats were also confiscated.
