Israel army opens fire at farmers in northern Gaza

Ma'an - Israeli soldiers opened fire in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday evening, farmers said. No injuries were reported.

Onlookers north of Beit Lahiya told Ma'an that a number of armored Israeli vehicles deployed along the northern border and opened machine-gun fire at farmers near the former settlement of Eli Sinai, which is north of the city, while bulldozers plowed up lands in the same area.

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed that soldiers opened fire, but said it followed an attempted attack. "Fire was opened at an IDF force and, as a response, the IDF force responded to the source of fire," she said.

The official said Israel's forces were inside Israeli territory. No soldiers were injured, she added.

The shooting was the third reported in two days.A Khan Younis resident was lightly injured by Israeli fire east of the southern Gaza Strip city on Thursday morning. Medics in Gaza said that the man was transferred to hospital for treatment.

Witnesses said the man, described as a member of either a Fatah- or Islamic Jihad-affiliated group, appeared to be planting an explosive near the border fence between Israel and Gaza.

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed that shots were fired in the direction of a Palestinian operative placing an explosive device near the border area, within what the army calls a "no-go zone."

On Wednesday, 16-year-old boy Wa’el Al-Kafarna was shot in his right leg by Israeli forces as he walked near the Erez crossing point, medics at Kamal Udwan Hospital said and the Israeli military confirmed.