Feb 24: Teenage girl shot in leg in Khoza’a

Elderly farmer: too frightened even to continue getting away

Today (footage here) the farmers were mostly elderly folk and mostly women and the bullets were so close they could only face 5 minutes of them. You could feel the thud of the air on your body as they flew past, they made our ears ring, and the shooting continued for about 20 minutes as we all walked away – one bullet hit a tree beside us.

I feel so worn down by this insanity at the moment, that the bullets today really shook me – I could easily imagine the next one slamming into my head – giving me a tiny glimpse into life as a farmer here.

Israeli bullets whizzing past in their own garden.

Then, some hours after we left…

Ma’an News Agency…

Seventeen-year-old Wafa An-Najjar was shot in the leg by Israeli forces on Tuesday near the borderline in the town of Khuza’a in the Southern Gaza Strip.

Medical sources at Nasser Hospital in the nearby city of Khan Younis reported that the girl had a bullet in her leg.

On Tuesday morning, international volunteers reported that Israeli forces opened fire on farmers near Khuza’a, about 300 meters from the Green Line.

The volunteers, with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), were accompanying farmers on their lands.

“We were only in the fields for about five minutes before the IDF began firing,” said Canadian volunteer Eva Bartlett. “I believe the firing was coming from four army jeeps and a hummer. The shots were coming very close, and were sniper-type of shots.

“One old woman was so paralyzed by fear that she couldn’t move off of the ground before we were finally able to accompany her out of the fields,” Bartlett added in a statement circulated by ISM.

“While the majority of the farmers left the area, some say they must return to work the land later on in the day. There is great concern that the Israeli army will continue their targeting of these farmers.”

No one was reported injured in this earlier incident.

Four Palestinian farmers have been shot on their lands near the Green Line in three weeks.

Just before the shooting: You can pick a lot in a short time if you're scared

Spanish filmmaker Alberto Arce, who was with us for most of the Dec/Jan attacks on Gaza, has put out the trailer for his film Erased: Wipe off the Map.