#news: Israeli fire wounds five near Gaza border

GAZA, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Five workers collecting gravel in the northern Gaza Strip were wounded by Israeli shootings on Tuesday.

Adham Abu Selmia, a spokesman for the medical services, said that the five workers were moderately injured in the morning.

Israeli snipers shot four of them "in the lower parts of their bodies," said the spokesman.

Israel has also allocated a 300-meter-wide buffer zone along its borders with Gaza. Official statistics said that 76 people have been wounded since February in the buffer zone, most of them gravel diggers.

In June, Israel started easing its blockade on Gaza, allowing more civilian goods into the enclave. However, some construction materials like gravel and steel are still banned. As a result, Gazans dig for the gravel near the border, at the debris of Jewish settlements that Israel evacuated in 2005.

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