Israel bombs besieged Gaza for eighth day in a row

Israeli helicopters bombed a plot of agricultural land in food-deprived Gaza, located near the non-operational Gaza Airport, to the east of Rafah, causing material damage, according to the Palestinian Authority’s news agency Wafa.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces shot towards a site to the north of Beit Lahia town, while the Israeli navy fired missiles into the sea offshore northern Gaza.

Israel caused material damage in their attack, Palestinian sources in Gaza said. No one was reported injured or dead.

Read also: Israel blocks $30 million Qatari aid to Gaza

The latest attack follows a week of heightened Israeli aggression against Gaza, during which Israel closed the Karem Abu Salem goods crossing with the strip, shut down the coastal fishing zone, and stopped the fuel supply which caused Gaza’s only power plant to stop operating.

Ongoing violence against Gaza

In 2006, Israel imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the strip, effectively turning the coastal enclave into an open-air prison, where basic necessities such as food, fuel and medicines are severely controlled.

Israel insists its blockade is necessary to isolate Hamas, with which it has fought three wars since 2008, scarring the besieged enclave.

Critics say the blockade, along with periodic bombardment of Gaza amounts to collective punishment of the coastal enclave's 2 million residents.

In 2014, the UN, along with four other human rights organisations predicted Gaza will be uninhabitable by 2020 but the situation in the besieged enclave deteriorated so much that many rights organisations deemed it uninhabitable before this decade even began.

Nearly 70 percent of Gaza's population is food insecure and around 80 percent of Palestinians in impoverished enclave are reliant on international aid, according to the United Nations.

In addition to damaging crops, Israel blocks food deliveries from reaching the besieged enclave, along with restricting Palestinians from fishing on their own maritime territory.

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