Israel targets Gaza again as besieged Palestinians protest near fence

The Israeli army has launched a drone strike on besieged Gaza after angry protests in which three Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire, sources on both sides said.

The early evening strike on Saturday is one of a series that has come amid near-daily protests near the fence by Palestinians after Israel closed the Erez crossing from besieged Gaza.

A Palestinian security source told the AFP news agency that an "Israeli aircraft had targeted a Hamas surveillance site east of Gaza City", without mentioning any casualties.

Earlier in the day, Palestinian demonstrators faced off against Israeli soldiers stationed along the buffer zone, an AFP journalist reported.

Three Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Gaza residents say the demonstrations are to protest issues including the mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and Jewish visits to the Al Aqsa Mosque compound.

'Collective punishment'

Thousands of Palestinian workers from besieged Gaza have been prevented from entering Israel by the closure of the Erez crossing, which an Israeli NGO, Gisha, condemned as "collective punishment".

Israel has issued work permits to some 18,500 Gaza residents, COGAT, the Israeli Defence Ministry body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, said on Tuesday.

Since September 13, six Palestinians have been killed and nearly 100 wounded during violence at the fence, according to figures from the Health Ministry in Gaza.

Armed conflict sporadically erupts between Israel and resistance fighters in besieged Gaza.

In May, an exchange of Israeli air strikes and Gaza rocket fire resulted in the killing of 34 Palestinians and one Israeli.

Harsh blockade

Israel has imposed an air, land and sea blockade on the impoverished Palestinian enclave ever since Hamas assumed governance in 2007.

The besieged Gaza is the world's third most densely populated city as more than two million Palestinians have been forced to live in an area of 362 square kilometres.

Israel's takeover of Mandatory Palestine in 1948 and its destruction of over 500 villages resulted in the displacement of millions of Palestinians across the country and the Middle East — tens of thousands moved into Gaza.

Israel militarily occupied the territory from 1967 to 2005.

Despite withdrawing troops in 2005, the United Nations, international human rights organisations and the majority of governments and legal commentators consider the territory to still be under occupation.

The entire Palestinian population is not free to leave or enter Gaza, nor is it allowed to freely import or export goods due to the Israeli fence closures as well as the Israeli sea and air blockade.