Gaza Strip: Attacks and their Consequences

August 9, 2012

Fact Sheet
July 2012

Following disengagement from the Gaza
Strip in September 2005, Israel has unilaterally and illegally established a so-called
“buffer zone”, an area prohibited to Palestinians along the land and sea
borders of the Gaza Strip. The precise area designated by Israel as a “buffer zone”
is unknown and Israeli policy is typically enforced with live fire. The
establishment of the ‘buffer zone’ is illegal under both Israeli and
international law.

Preventing Palestinians from access to
their land, and fishing areas, violates numerous provisions of international human
rights law, including the right to work, the right to the highest attainable
standard of living, and the right to the highest attainable standard of health.
Enforcing the “buffer zone” by means of live fire often results in, inter alia, the war crimes of direct
targeting of civilians and indiscriminate attacks.

Dimensions

On land: inside Palestinian territory:

· Second
Intifada (2000): 150
metres

· According to
Israel (2010) : 300 metres

· In reality:

Minimum:
300 metres
to approximately 2
kilometres

· Approximately 17%
of the total territory of the Gaza Strip

At sea, area off coast for Palestinian
fishing:

· Oslo Accords
(1994): 20 nautical miles (NM)

· Bertini
Commitment (2002): 12 NM

· October 2006:
6 NM

· End of 2007 :
3 NM

· 1.5
NM
in the north along the maritime boundary with Israel

· 1
NM
in the south along the maritime boundary with Egypt

Impact

On Land:

· Approximately
27,000 dunums, 35% of the Gaza Strip’s agricultural land can only be
accessed under high personal risk, as Israeli attacks may result in injury or
death of civilians.

· 95%
of the
restricted area is arable land

· After the
evacuation of settlements (2005) and Operation Cast Lead (2008-2009) the
majority of Palestinians families abandoned their land and houses.

At Sea:

· Palestinians
are totally prevented from accessing 85% of the maritime areas in
reference to 1994 Gaza Jericho Agreement.

· Approximately
3,700 fishermen expose themselves to high risk every day at sea.

· Approximately
8,200 persons are working in fishing industry.

· Approximately
65,000 persons, including individuals in the fishing industry and
their dependents are affected by the “buffer
zone” restrictions at sea.

· The area near
the coast is markedly over-fished.

Attacks

July 2012

Attacks	Total	Within Land “buffer zone”	Within Maritime “buffer zone”
Shelling	2	2	0
Shooting	10	8	2
Incursions	9	7	2
Land leveling	1	1	0
Total of incident	22	18	4

Consequences of
attacks

a. Deaths and Injuries

July 2012

CONSEQUENCES	Total	Within Land “buffer zone”	Within Maritime “buffer zone”
Deaths of Persons	2	2	0
Minors	0	0	0
Women	0	0	0
Injuries of Persons	2	2	0
Minors	0	0	0
Women	0	0	0

b. Property related violations

July 2012

CONSEQUENCES	Total	Within Land “buffer zone”	Within Maritime “buffer zone”
Property damaged	0	0	0
Property confiscated	0	0	0
Dunums razed	1	1	0

c. Detention

July 2012

CONSEQUENCES	Total	Within Land “buffer zone”	Within Maritime “buffer zone”
Total persons detained	2	2	0
Minors detained	1	1	0
Women detained	0	0	0

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