U.N.: "Buffer zone" reducing Palestinian agricultural land in Gaza

From the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:

An expanding "buffer zone" between Israel and the Gaza Strip is driving Palestinians away from the Strip's border with Israel, reducing their access to fertile land, rights groups and agricultural associations in the enclave are warning.

The Israeli enforced "buffer zone" along the border with Gaza was originally supposed to stretch about 150 metres into Gaza, but organisations like the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC), a local non-governmental organisation (NGO), say this has now increased to over 1,000 metres in places, and is affecting thousands of farmers along the roughly 50km-long border with Israel.

"This is deeply affecting the economy in Gaza," Ahmed Sourani, of PARC in Gaza City, told IRIN, adding that "farming is an important part of food security here."

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