Israeli naval boats, Sunday, opened machine gunfire on Palestinian fishing boats offshore the city of Gaza, according to WAFA correspondence.Israeli naval boats opened machine gunfire on fishing boats sailing within the unilaterally-imposed six-nautical-mile fishing zone offshore al-Sudaniyya area, to the northwest of Gaza city.
No injuries were reported among the fishermen, who were forced to leave the sea for fear of being arrested, injured, or killed.
This attack on fishermen came only a day after Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian minor to the east of Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip.
Sources said that Palestinian Maher Shtat, 14, was hit with a live bullet fired by Israeli forces stationed at watchtowers at the borderline to the north of the strip. Shtat was transferred to hospital for medical treatment.
Meanwhile, At least four Palestinians were killed and some 30 others injured on August 6th when an unexploded device left behind the Israeli army detonated in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah.
Israeli navy and troops routinely open fire on Palestinian fishermen sailing within the six-nautical-miles zone and farmlands along the border, flagrantly violating the ceasefire deal that was reached in August 2014.
The current six-nautical-mile fishing zone falls drastically short of the twenty nautical miles allocated to Palestinian fishermen in the 1993 Oslo Accords.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) documented during June alone 10 shooting incidents that resulted in the wounding of four Palestinian fishermen while sailing off Beit Lahia shore, in the northern Gaza Strip.
Noting the lack of Israeli naval forces’ compliance with the ceasefire agreement concluded between Israel and Palestinian armed groups, under Egyptian auspices, on 26 August, 2014, including the allowance of Palestinian fishermen to sail within six nautical miles in the Gaza Sea, 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.”
Israel has imposed a tightened blockade since 2007 after Hamas won the democratic legislative election and took over power in the Strip.
IMEMC archive story: 03/01/15 94 Israeli Ceasefire Violations Since August
