An Israeli naval boat, Saturday, opened heavy machine gun fire on Palestinian fishermen’s boats, while sailing within the allowed fishing zone offshore Gaza.WAFA correspondence reported that an Israeli naval boat opened gunfire on three Palestinian boats offshore the northwest of Gaza, causing damages to the boats.
No injuries were reported among the fishermen who apparently fled the scene for fear of being injured, killed or arrested.
The current six-nautical-mile fishing zone falls drastically short of the twenty nautical miles allocated to Palestinian fishermen in the 1993 Oslo Accords.
To be noted, Israeli navy and army target Palestinian fishermen and farmlands along the border almost on daily basis in a blatant breach of the Egyptian brokered truce agreement reached on August 2014, following 51 days of bloody aggression on the Gaza Strip.
Noting lack of Israeli naval forces’ compliance with the ceasefire agreement concluded between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in 2014, including allowing Palestinian fishermen to sail within six nautical miles in the Gaza Sea, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) reported that all attacks took place within the distance of six nautical miles, which it said, “proves that Israeli forces’ policies aim to tighten restrictions on the Gaza Strip’s fishermen and their livelihoods.”
The international organization OXFAM reported on the fishing industry saying, “With most of the fish at least nine miles out at sea, [fishermen] have already been struggling to make a living and now 90 percent of them need international aid.”
Israel has imposed a tightened blockade since 2007 after Hamas won the democratic legislative election and took over power in the strip.
Archive IMEMC story: 03/01/15 94 Israeli Ceasefire Violations Since August
