Israel shoots Gazan scrap collector

Israeli forces have reportedly opened fire on and injured a Palestinian male as he was gleaning gravel near the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel.

The Sunday shooting injured the 21-year-old victim in the leg, AFP reported.

The Israeli military said it had opened fire on “several suspicious persons,” aiming for the targets’ “lower bodies.”

The Palestinian scavengers trawl through the remnants of former Israeli settlements for collectable materials. The measure serves as a coping strategy against a crippling blockade Israel has been imposing on Gaza since mid-June 2007.

Tel Aviv has also enforced a so-called buffer zone close to the coastal sliver’s border, regularly targeting the rubble collectors, who would approach the area.

Last year, the shootings killed scores of Palestinians, many of them children.

Highlighting the attacks, an August study by the United Nations showed, “Palestinians have been totally or partially prevented from accessing land located up to 1,000-1,500 meters” from the border.