In November 2012, the media reported that as part of understandings reached in the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas authorities in Gaza, the area along Gaza’s border with Israel, into which farmers are denied entry would be reduced. However, Gisha’s correspondence with Israeli authorities revealed that the army continues to consider the area stretching 300 meters from the border fence as off-limits to farmers as well as the rest of Gaza’s population. At the same time, the military refrains from providing clear and consistent information about the scope of the restrictions in the so-called “buffer zone”, or the extent to which they have been relaxed. Gisha cautions that the lack of transparency and the ambiguous rules of engagement put farmers, shepherds and gravel collectors, who make a living in this area, at risk.
