Twenty-six children in Gaza were shot by Israeli troops near the border during 2010, a Save the Children report found.
AlJazeera.net reported on January 18 that the report found: “Children in Gaza are coming under regular gunfire from Israeli soldiers while scavenging in the ruins of buildings bombed during the Israeli invasion of Gaza in 2009 ...”
The report said children scavenge for construction materials near the border, despite a 300 metre “exclulsion zone” declared by Israel, to search for building materials. The thousands of homes destroyed by Israel’s 2008-09 war on Gaza have not been rebuilt,and Israel’s siege blocks building materials from entering the Palestinian territory.
AlJazeera.net reported that Salam Kanaan, Save the Children UK’s country director in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said: “The blockade must end immediately and … has put children’s lives at risk.”