Israeli airstrike kills Gaza policeman

A fifth Palestinian is still missing, Reuters reported. The missing person was a member of a Gaza naval security unit run by the Hamas government of the territory. An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed that an air force aircraft attacked the Gaza Strip. Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip have claimed the lives of scores of Palestinians and injured many more. Israel has been launching regular airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since the end of its December 2008-January 2009 war on the Palestinian territory. The 22-day war left over 1,400 Palestinians dead and injured thousands more. The three weeks of unrelenting aerial, land, and sea strikes also destroyed thousands of civilian and government buildings and devastated much of Gaza's infrastructure. In addition, Israeli forces have been targeting Palestinians who approach a so-called buffer zone. In 2008, Tel Aviv declared that the 300-meter-long strip flanking the Gaza-Israel boundary would henceforth be a no-go zone, effectively preventing Gazans from accessing some of their agricultural land. Israeli soldiers often open fire on Palestinians in an around the zone under the pretext of preventing attacks on Israel.