Tuesday April 30 2013, the Israeli navy opened fire at several Palestinian fishing boats along the coast in the Gaza Strip; damage was reported but no injuries.Local sources reported that, earlier on Tuesday, the Navy opened fire at several fishing boats near Gaza City, and that, on Tuesday evening, the Navy opened fire at fishing boats near the An-Nusseirat refugee camp and Deir Al-Balah in northern Gaza.
A month ago, Israel reinforced an order obliging all Palestinian fishermen in Gaza to fish within only three nautical miles of the Gaza shore, instead of six miles that Israel agreed to as part of the ceasefire agreement that ended the Israeli war on Gaza last year.
There are approximately 4000 Palestinian fishermen in Gaza.
Under the Oslo accords in the mid-nineties, the Palestinians are allowed to fish in 20 nautical miles off the Gaza shore, but in 2008, Israel unilaterally reduced the fishing area to only three nautical miles.
As part of the ceasefire agreement that ended the Israeli war on Gaza in November 2012, Palestinian fishermen were allowed to fish within six nautical miles off the Gaza coast, but the army continued to attack the fishermen in their allocated areas, and continued its policy of forcing them to fish within 3 nautical miles.
The fishermen are repeatedly attacked even within the three nautical miles, an issue that denies denying them, and their families, from the only source of livelihood.
