3 Gazans injured as terrorist occupation soldiers fire at protesters

At least three Palestinians have suffered injuries as a result of gunfire by Israeli forces near the Erez border crossing in the northern Gaza Strip.

On Sunday afternoon, dozens of young Palestinians staged a demonstration near the border fence to protest against the ongoing Israeli blockade of the impoverished Palestinian coastal sliver, which has slowed down the reconstruction of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip in the wake of Israel’s 50-day onslaught on the besieged territory last summer.

Israeli troops assaulted the protesters and fired rubber-coated steel bullets to break up the protest. Three young Palestinians sustained gunshot wounds. One of them was rushed to a hospital in the city of Beit Hanoun.

Hundreds of Palestinians rallied across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, demanding the reconstruction of the war-torn coastal enclave and protesting against Israel’s crippling siege, which has been in place since June 2007.

The protesters argued that, despite Israeli pledges to open border crossings and ease the blockade of the Gaza Strip following an Egyptian-brokered truce in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, only a trickle of construction materials like cement is being let in.

The latest Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, which started on July 8, ended on August 26 with the truce that took effect after indirect negotiations in Cairo. The onslaught killed at least 2,140 Palestinians and injured thousands of others.

According to initial figures, nearly 89,000 Palestinian homes were damaged in the Israeli military campaign. A total of 15,000 homes were either leveled to the ground or so badly damaged that are no longer habitable.

It is estimated that as many as 400 trucks, delivering building materials from concrete to machinery, are needed every day for the reconstruction process, but only around 75 trucks have made deliveries so far.

The Popular Committee for Monitoring the Reconstruction of the Gaza Strip said on November 15 that it will take at least twenty years to rebuild Gaza.