Two men were injured on Tuesday by Israeli firing in the northern Gaza strip, local medical sources said. Israeli troops opened fire injuring two men in their lower legs in the north of Beit Hanoun, near the Gaza border. Medical crews transported the two to Kamal Udwan Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
Both men, who were moderately wounded, claimed to have been collecting rubble from buildings in the area destroyed during Operation Cast Lead. UN estimates claimed some 6,000 homes were destroyed during the Israeli offensive on Gaza.
An Israeli military spokesman said the men were shot in two separate incidents just north and south of the Gaza border. In both cases, soldiers reportedly fired into the air when the men were seen approaching the border area, and later shot at the lower parts of their bodies after failing to leave.
Several similar incidents have taken place near the border area in the Gaza strip, over the past few months, as Gazan workers try to counter Israel’s siege by collecting construction material from destroyed buildings.
