Gaza kids at risk near border

Palestinian children have regularly been the target of Israeli gunfire while searching for construction materials in bombed-out buildings, a rights group says.

A new report released by “Save the Children” warned that the Israeli blockade on the territory “has put children’s lives at risk.”

The UNICEF-led working group called for an immediate end to the 4-year-long blockade on the territory, saying it has forced children to drop out of school and work to help support their families.

Numbers of them have been hit by Israeli gunfire, while they were searching for construction materials near the so-called buffer zone.

At least twenty-six children were shot by Israeli forces close to the border last year, according to the report.

“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 UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness.

“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.

Israel has imposed the blockade on the region since June 2007, preventing the entry of hundreds of items, including essential industrial materials.

The regime later launched a 22-day war on the besieged territory, which resulted in the deaths of at least 1,400 Palestinians and left thousands of others displaced.

Thousands of homes destroyed during the conflict have yet to be rebuilt.