Israeli military vehicles entered dozens of meters into the northern besieged Gaza Strip, on Monday.
A Ma’an reporter said that four large D-9 Israeli military bulldozers entered dozens of meters into Palestinian lands, north of Beit Hanoun, and began to raze the lands as drones flew overhead.
No injuries were reported from the incident.
Israeli military incursions inside the besieged Gaza Strip and near the “buffer zone,” which lies on both land and sea sides of Gaza, have long been a near-daily occurrence.
The Israeli army also regularly detains and opens fire on unarmed Palestinian fishermen, shepherds, and farmers along the border areas if they approach the buffer zone, as the authorities have not made clear the precise area of the designated zone.
The practice has in effect destroyed much of the agricultural and fishing sector of the blockaded coastal enclave, which has been under an Israeli air, land and sea blockade for nearly 12 years.
Also on Monday, Israeli naval forces detained a 22-year-old Palestinian fisherman while working off the coast of the northern besieged Gaza Strip, on late Sunday.
The Head of the Palestinian Fishermen Union in Gaza, Zakariya Bakr, confirmed that Israeli authorities informed the family of the fisherman, Muhammad Hussam Bakr, 22, of his detention while working off the coast in northern Gaza.
The reason for Muhammad’s detention remained unknown.
As part of Israel’s blockade of the coastal enclave since 2007, the Israeli army, citing security concerns, requires Palestinian fishermen to work within a limited “designated fishing zone,” the exact limits of which are decided by the Israeli authorities and have historically fluctuated.
The Israeli army regularly detains and opens fire on unarmed Palestinian fishermen, shepherds, and farmers along the border areas if they approach the unilaterally declared buffer zone.
Israeli human rights group B’Tselem recently concluded that Israel’s Gaza closure and “harassment of fishermen” have been “destroying Gaza’s fishing sector,” with 95% of fishermen living below the poverty line.
