Two fishermen who were detained by Israeli forces, on Thursday, were reported injured on Friday, and were subsequently being treated in Israeli hospitals.
Zakariya Bakir, the head of the fishermen committee, said that the detained fishermen, identified as Rajab Abu Mayala and Khader al-Saadi, were injured during their detentions, one of whom was reported as having serious injuries. However, Bakir did not specify which one was suffering from serious wounds or what kind of injuries the two sustained.
The two are being held in Israeli hospitals and receiving medical care, he said.
Gaza naval police said, in a statement on Thursday, that Israeli forces detained al-Saadi and Abu Mayala, both residents of the al-Shati refugee camp, while they were sailing three nautical miles from the shore of Gaza City.
Gaza police added that Israeli forces also confiscated the fishermen’s boats and equipment at the time.
The Israeli army regularly opens fire on unarmed Palestinian fishermen, shepherds, and farmers along the border areas if they approach Israel’s unilaterally declared “buffer zone,” which lies on both the land and sea sides of Gaza.
The practice, according to Ma’an News Agency, along with instances of detentions of fishermen, has in effect destroyed much of the agricultural and fishing sector of the blockaded coastal enclave.
Gazan fishermen, whose numbers are estimated to be around 4,000, have suffered from the near decade-long siege of the Gaza Strip, which limits their incursions to just six nautical miles into the sea in accordance with the ceasefire agreement signed with Palestinian factions in 2014.
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