VIDEO: Jehad Saftawi/IMEU
When Palestinians are shot in Gaza by Israeli snipers, media reports often cite Israeli sources claiming that the victims were close to—or attempting to breach—a so-called “border fence” unilaterally built and militarily fortified by Israel. What these reports just as often fail to mention is that, in fact, no Palestinian can come close to this “fence,” because it is abutted by another unilaterally designated boundary—what Israel calls a “buffer zone.” As detailed by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, this “buffer” against Gaza’s 1.7 million residents, who are also forbidden to leave the territory by sea, officially extends up to 300 meters into Gaza’s territory. But “in reality,” the report states, “attacks against civilians take place anywhere up to approximately 1.5 kilometres inside the border fence.” That’s what happened to 22-year-old Odeh Hamad on December 21 when he was killed while collecting scrap not far from his poverty-stricken neighborhood in Beit Hanoun. Just south of there, in this video taken yesterday (January 8, 2014), unarmed Palestinian protestors are shown approximately 200 meters from the Israeli soldiers who are firing at them. The soldiers, much like the Israeli drones that circle Gaza incessantly, are as unseen as they are lethal. Enter Gaza’s “death zone.”