9 years since the longest Gaza war. Residents of border areas revive their land and regain their lives without "snipers"

GAZA – If you think about walking a kilometer west of the fence separating Gaza from the areas controlled by Israel before the 2014 war, you should calculate your steps well, you may not return alive, or be shot by a sniper who aims at everything that moves in the hottest border areas.

These areas were monitored by an Israeli military division that prevented any civilian or military appearance on the Palestinian side of the fence and extended more than a kilometre.

Nine years after Israel's 9-day war on the Gaza Strip in 2014, Munir Hamdouna, a farmer from the northern Gaza Strip city of Beit Lahiya, recalls how an Israeli sniper permanently disabled his brother, who targeted him at the border while he was working on his land.

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Hamdouna expressed his satisfaction as he was able to access his land after many years of deprivation of it and after fear for his life, which may end by bullets without distinction between a resister or a farmer practicing his profession for more than 40 years, and the new situation has allowed him to cultivate his land and move in those areas without fear.

Street "Return"

The sixtieth farmer described the situation after 2014: "We feel safe because the field checkpoints of the resistance are deployed along the border and on the return street.

Gazans also call this street colloquially "Jakar Street" – meaning stubbornness and approval of the thing as spitefulness – and it was established by the Palestinian resistance after the aggression on Gaza in 2014, which Israel called Operation Protective Edge, and met by the resistance as "Eaten Storm", which is the longest war launched by Israel on the Strip and killed 2322,<> martyrs.

The 64-kilometer length of the "return" road along the eastern and northern borders of the Gaza Strip, 200 to 300 meters from the Israeli separation fence, has significantly limited the separation zone that Israel has imposed for decades on the Gaza border, making it a killing of Palestinians and a dangerous field.

The lands near the border fence were open sites of the occupation and anyone who moved in them exposed himself to sniping (Al-Jazeera)

If you drive along the street along the fence, you see residents of those border areas wandering through their agricultural fields, while the resistance's "Protectors of the Gaps Forces" are deployed.

These forces are deployed in the hundreds along the border, and moved after the war to more advanced points towards the fence, in a move to stabilize the new situation, which enabled citizens to go to their lands and cultivate them, whose area after Al-Awda Street is estimated by relevant sources at more than 30% of the total area of agricultural land in the Gaza Strip.

These green areas are frequented in normal quiet times, as well as farmers by many shepherds and bird hunters without worry or fear.

Monitoring points

In addition, the Palestinian resistance has established multiple observation posts along the Gaza Strip border, very close to the military barracks of the Israeli occupation forces.

The resistance has explained on several occasions that it has led to the achievement of "an advantage in the security and information control of the Palestinian resistance," in addition to the fact that these military sites have become adjacent to the wall built by Israel along those borders, the largest of which is the "Palestine site" of the Qassam Brigades, the far north of the Gaza Strip and adjacent to the settlement of "Netiv Ha'asrah" and the "Erez" military site.

Two members of the "Protectors of the Stougor" force facing the separation fence in the northern Gaza Strip (Al-Jazeera)

Thwarting infiltrations

In a related context, said Abu Ahmed one of the officers of the forces "protectors of the gaps" of the resistance to the island net: "Our presence in the areas of contact with the enemy is a safety valve for our people in an advanced point on the outskirts of the sector, in addition to that we form an advanced eye of the resistance to monitor the movements of the enemy and early frustration of any aggressive intention sabotage or security of the enemy forces. "

"We thwarted more than 1300,2016 infiltrations across the border fence between 2022 and <>, which posed a security and social threat to our people, and we were able to arrest many suspects and drug dealers, in coordination with the relevant authorities in the security services," he said.

The presence of "Hamat al-Thaghur" in these areas along al-Awda Street "provides moral and logistical support and protection to farmers and land owners, and facilitates the movement of citizens, farmers, herders and residents of the eastern and northern regions throughout the Gaza Strip", Abu Ahmed said.

Years ago, these lands and the new spaces between al-Awda Street and the separation fence, which have become relatively safe areas where Gazans move to work and hike, are the same areas where the "March of Return" began on March 30, 2018, on Land Day.

The besieged residents of the Gaza Strip resorted to this peaceful demonstration demanding the lifting of the siege imposed on them since 2006, and these marches continued for a whole year, and ended with the imposition of additional facilities for the benefit of the residents of the Gaza Strip.