Extreme poverty caused by conflict and the ongoing blockade of Gaza is causing children to scavenge near the border with Israel, with potentially deadly consequence
Save the Children UK - Some children in the Gaza Strip are coming under regular gunfire from Israeli soldiers while scavenging for construction materials left over from buildings destroyed during the Israeli military offensive of January 2009 and other military incursions.
According to the UNICEF-led working group on Children Affected by Armed Conflict 26 children were shot by Israeli troops close to the border during the last year, including 16 children who were outside an Israeli-imposed exclusion zone that extends 300 metres into Gaza.
Israel’s ongoing blockade of Gaza prevents construction materials from entering the Strip, meaning that thousands of homes destroyed during the conflict have not been rebuilt.
With construction material in high demand, children and adults are risking death and serious injury by attempting to remove rubble or cultivate land in areas close to Gaza’s border with Israel.
“The blockade must end immediately and there must be a review of policies with respect to the border area,” said Salam Kanaan, Save the Children UK’s Country Director in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. “The Gaza blockade has put children’s lives at risk.”
In September two 16-year old boys and their 91-year old grandfather were killed by an Israeli tank shell some 700 metres from the border, highlighting the deadly force used against children working outside the so-called “buffer zone”.
"Because of the blockade's devastating economic impact, children are being forced to work and scavenge near the fence. Even those who are not in the so-called ‘buffer zone’ unilaterally imposed by Israel are being targeted by Israeli soldiers," said Chris Gunness, Spokesman for UNRWA....
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