Israeli forces shot and wounded two Palestinians and a Maltese activist during a protest in Gaza on Saturday, medical officials and activists said.
Demonstrators condemned Israel's establishment of a buffer zone between Israel and Gaza that they say amounts to a ban on farming in that location. They also deplored Israeli policies and actions toward the Palestinian territory.
The incident took place east of Al-Maghazi refugee camp.
There has been no immediate reaction from the Israel Defense Forces.
The International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian group, said on its website that about 150 people attended the "peaceful" and "nonviolent" demonstration and that soldiers opened fire on the demonstrators from the border fence.
Nidal Al Naji, 18, was shot in the right thigh and Hind Al Akra, 22, was shot in the stomach. Bianca Zimmit, 28, of Malta was filming the demonstration when she was shot in the left thigh, the group said.
Israel Defense Forces said it fired warning shots at a group of Palestinians gathering "very close to the security fence" in central Gaza. In its initial probe of the incident, the IDF said its forces "identified hitting three of the Palestinians."
"The area adjacent to the security fence is a combat zone used by terrorist organizations to execute attacks against Israel. The IDF will not allow anyone to be present in it, since it is considered a threat to the residents of Israel and to Israeli security forces, " the IDF said.
Details missed from the story: when the pro-palestinians on the boat promised to enter at peace and with no violence, they attacked members of the IDF with sticks, bats, knives and guns, critically injuring 6 Israeli soldiers.
lol@ critical. plz read the reports dude...scratches
Isreal has one of the largest militaries in the world and their soldiers were 'critically injured' by the humanitarian activists they unexpectedly attacked... absolutely ridiculous. The conflicting reports are really just the truth behind Isreal's heartless agenda making its way into the mainstream media that Isreal has manipulated for decades. The world is finally starting to see the cruelty behind the dollar signs.
This is first degree murder. The Israelis have commited the ultimate crime. They are digging their own grave, and what goes around comes around. Just wait and see.
Yes yes we are all aware that isreali soilders were hurt during this protest but there is a diffrence between a fully armed isreali soilder with m16's and cavilar vests and a peacfull protester tryign to get food water and building supplys to the gaza and fighting off the soilders with a peace of wood.
Isreal have been getting away with cold blooded muder for years and its not going to stand for much Longer the UN will not stand for the killings of innocent people.
Isreal will be dealth with one way or another!!
sorry to disagree with you, but the Israeli intelligence has the reputation throughout the world as the best & most accurate. before any of us accuse anyone, let's wait for the facts. Sometimes the actual facts cannot be shared with the public for obvious security reasons. Patience, that's what we need is patience. Not hatred & accusations.
Your house. Someone is shooting BBs into your house, through your bedroom window. You see a vehicle resembling one that happens to be there every time a BB is fired. You run out of your house to confront, or as Americans would... Call the police. Now, it is not BBs it is rockets. Going through your roof. And you know others whose children, fathers, mothers have died. And thousands of such rockets have been fired. Then you know how the missiles landing on your house are getting to the launch sites... So you stop it. Why stop it before they get to the launch sites? Because Arabs are launching them from peoples houses... Their backyards... Their roofs... And media coverage of a retaliatory strike where thie Arabs are using human shields don't quite look so good. So Israel moves back the line where they aim to keep missiles from getting to launch sites.
Missiles are hitting your house. Rockets are making rather large potholes in the street and blasting holes in your sidewalks. Your roof, good for another 10 years now has a gaping hole that goes all the way down to your basement following the path of a rocket... Oh... And people are dying because of it. Wake up people. If this was your house, you, I mean you, would want commandos, helicopters, drones, satalite tracking... You name it... Defending your house.
Wake up. This is a democracy in the middle east. Wake up, Israel produces things we need every day and groundbreaking research – including recently a new way to transport hydrogen for fuel cell cars. Israel is our partner. Not those who aim to incite. Wake up. Pay attention. Develop the intellectual disctinction. Extremists are counting on you not to.
Kem and Jim, you both have good points. But Karma would not be part of the plan, because the people want to find a way to figure out how to seek what should be right after what happened, and Kem, I agree, there were some things missing from the article, but media cannot get everything right. If they did, we would know the truth about everything, not just living in wondering what would happen next.
Things will happen hear that may affect the balance of the going ons out there, lets hope there might be something safer.
According to my sources ,Israelis were spraying bullets even before landing on ship, commenting crime,which any peaceful nation never supported . I belief violence any form either committed by any nation never bring peace.either way there is no winner of this conflict,both jews and palestinian muslims are loser,because we going to see more violence and more loss of life of innocent peoples .
Hyder, they entered the zone of a military blockade. That is what a military blockade is. A place where people get shot at. If they are lucky they get some warning shots. If they ignore the warning shots... Later they don't look like they were lucky, they look dead. Stop thinking They were shot at in a Walmart. IT WAS A MILITARY BLOCKADE THEY WERE TRYING TO CROSS.
bats and sticks against bullets.what rubbish?thats the cheapest form of propaganda israelis would use to justify the killings which they cant,its the time for world and especially america that israel has committed the worst war crime of the modern age.
This is the grossest exaggeration I have ever heard. You called it a war crime. That is because they entered a KNOWN WAR ZONE. ON PURPOSE. TO INCITE PEOPLE LIKE YOU. And you fell for it. Forgive me for insulting your intelligence, but you cant just trust that all of this happened with no intentionality on the part of the 'aide group.'. The timing was scheduled when Netanyahu was to be meeting with Obama. The aim, to disrupt. Where were you when thousands of rockets were randomly being launched from Gaza onto civilians homes? Where were you screaming of war crimes! Where the hell were you then? Wake up people. Wake up.
Nine-Eleven?
By that you mean that hamas are the good guys? Then you must be a complete brainwashed and uninformed idiot.
Imran,
Open your eyes before opening your mouth!!! The Palis attacked the soldiers en masse – and the soldiers showed considerable restraint. I have had enough of lying muslims to want to throw up!!! If I want to find a army where the soldiers behave like murderers and common criminals I look in the muslim world!! In contrast, Israel has shpwn the greatest restraint, but sometime cracks do appear. Hyder, get some new sources – or perhaps you are as dishonest as your sources are- you demonstrate typical arab behavior – invert something – and then pretend it is true!! Ishac, you will be surprised at how many people will stand and fight with Israel - non-Jews included. You muslims want to pick a fight – you will loose – your choice.
Ben, you are serously ill informed, What a shame to waste such passionate speaking on ignorance.
They both were in international waters, they both part of what happened on board of the ships. But Israel has no business attacking the ships on high seas, they weren't even close to Gaza or even Israeli claimed boundaries. First the Israeli say we gave Gaza to the Palerstinians that they blockade the city. Either you occupy the damn place or leave it alone.
Another uninformed and totally brainwashed idiot here who doesn't understand WHY Israel is having this blockade of Gaza.
Keith,
OMG - you're not too biased. You should open your eyes AND your mind before spewing your hatred. Please don't talk about "considerable restraint" – I am an American who came to this country in 1967, at the age of 6 years. I am proud to be American and Arab. I can tell you stories from my own personal experience. One being the day we left the home where i was born - the first day of the 6 day war. The Israeli soldiers wanted us out so they build a bridge of planks across the Jordan river. I was holding on so tight to my mother, who had my 3 year old brother and my 6 mos old brother. I can still remember that day - when the soldier yelled "yalla, yalla" as he hit me with his belt. Don't talk to me about restraint, when i have had members of my family disappear and come back severly damaged from torture or dead. The world only stands with Israel now because they don't know the truth. What ever you want to call it Justice or Karma - It will happen.
I agree with you on some of your statements, but in the Boat situation all needed to be done was let the ship be searched. If there were no firearms on board they would have a case. But so far that information has not been revealed. If those on board were peaceful, and had nothing to hide, I don't believe the Soldiers would. As for Violent Acts, I have seen the body of an Israeli soldier draged behind a car while your people cheered, and this was broadcast around the world. In regards to violence there is enough to go around. Don't attack, and you won't be attacked or try to transfer weapons to kill.
Noelle, while your story is moving, and gut wrenching, and I wish it never happened to you. 3000 Syrian tanks were surrounding Israel. The Egyptian air force, amongst the worlds largest at the time, was scrambling to action, and hundreds of thousands of troops were preparing to storm Israel with the intension of killing everyone in their path. People tend to lose their good nature when others are trying to exterminate them. Israel destroyed the entire Egyptian air force with a preemptive strike on the ground. Trapped hundreds of thousands of soldiers in a pass between mountains, told them to drop their weapons, and then the Israelis let them go home. A regiment of a few Israeli tanks covered a choke point where Syrian tanks were aiming to enter by the thousands... And held them off. In defense of itself Israel won a decisive victory, in 6 days, against overwhelming odds. The areas Israel continues to occupy, happens to usually be areas of high ground, which are used for defense for such purposes.
Now, did this ever happen to you in Israel when there wasn't thousands of tanks, hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and a mass air force... For a combined overwhelming force... Against a tiny country the size of New Jersey... Working to exterminate everyone to the coast? I empathize with you and what happened. It never should have come to that. I moved an hour from my childhood home about the age you were at that time and I still hated it decades later and was upset by it. Just remember, the military aims against Israel were complete anhillation. And through thousands of coordinated actions at the time, they are still here. Last I checked, Israel has never attacked Syria in a full force military assault, Egypt, or those nations... But, Israelis will ferociously defend themselves. It is their home. It is their territory. There are winners, there are losers. It is war... There are those who suffer. I am very sorry that in this case, you did.
When will we stop falling for tactics aimed at making Israel look bad? The flotilla of 'aide' did this on purpose. There is a constant effort specifically to make Israel look bad. This is an area of military conflict, not Alabama. There is an active blockade due to missile shipments that enter Gaza. Consider politically, if in a democracy, the political leaders didn't do all they could to keep missiles from falling randomly on peoples houses. Well, that was happening by the thousands and Israel did something. There is a route for aide. Israel even sends it's own aide to Gaza. This was a deliberate action to inflame conflict and maximize rifts. These occur with striking frequency whenever either side is warming to peace talks. Stop falling for it. When in an area of military conflict, Israelis must assume that a ship has missiles on it because hundreds of such ships have.... Usually hidden... Often hidden in supplies that may look like aide. The Arab street will always trust Arabs first... And protest immediately. The UN has a large proportion of Arab nations and will always condemn Israel. And Israel will always be held up to a higher standard than any other nation due to it's religious and spiritual nature. Stop falling for it. Think deeper. Media stop hyping people against Israel with exciting headlines. That is the goal of groups like this. This time the 'aide' workers got themselves killed. Oh... Did I mention they walked into the barrel of the gun? A gun which was visible on a map? And... They did so on purpose to create an international incident? They entered a military blockade people... And military action ensued. Fort knox also tends to defend itself, the white house would, the pentagon would defend itself. This is where the battle lines have been drawn.
How much money were you paid by IPAC and the Israeli Government to post misleading information about this issue?
Wheres all this outrage when the arab's blow up car bombs? Bunch of Jew hating idiot Liberals.
How much money were you paid by IPAC and the Israeli Government to post lies about this issue?
Another sad story about people who can't follow the rules of a nation. They should be thankful I wasn't giving the orders. I'd have ordered those boats blown up and sunk. Hamas are a group of terrorists and deserve to be treated as such.
Iran wants to send an aid flotilla with a couple or so additional warships to protect them as they have threatened to do. Then they will sink them on the spot. I guess Iran is dying for their destruction.
The problems with Islam is the word "infidel" – Also, the Allah of Islam is a "capricious and unknowable god. All 3 of these words clearly have a negative connotation. So, I don't know why people say that Islam is a peaceful "religion"? I suppose that some are peaceful, but many are not? Those are the ones you need to go after.
Well like my good friend Mo would say, you need to study this subject before posting such idiotic remarks about a Religion you clearly have no knowledge of just a suggestion boo.
u wouldnt like me when im angry!
Some people say the only way to end Israel 's illegal war on the Palestinians and their homeland is for Iran to bomb the heck out Israel back to the stone age that would be right thing to do for all parties, and once that is done the Arabs and Jews can start all over again this time as One Nation all equal rights for all not just one group of people.