After the Israeli forces shot and injured a Maltese national during a pro-Palestinian protest in Gaza, Malta’s Foreign Ministry moves to condemn the attack.

Twenty-eight-year-old Maltese activist Bianca Zimmit was wounded by a live Israeli round on Saturday during a demonstration against Tel Aviv’s decision to declare large parts of Gaza’s arable land a "no-go" area, Ma’an news agency reported.

In a Sunday statement, the Maltese Foreign Ministry "deplored and condemned in the strongest possible terms" Zimmit’s shooting, Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reported.

Local residents and international activists had gathered around the restricted zone in the central Gaza Strip to protest the ban that makes 20 percent of arable lands inaccessible to farmers.

The zone reportedly intrudes into the Strip beyond the areas from which Israel is supposed to have withdrawn in 2005.

The Sunday Times of Malta quoted Zammit as saying that "We were not doing anything illegal. I don’t expect to be shot for holding a Palestinian flag or holding a camera, especially since we were chanting peaceful songs."

Israeli troops also injured five more protesters including a 22-year-old, who was shot in the stomach, Ma’an reported.

(Press TV)