ISRAEL AND EGYPT TARGET PALESTINIAN FISHING BOATS OFF RAFAH
Gaza City, 1 Muharram 1436/25 October 2014 (MINA) – Egyptian and Israeli navy vessels have been continuously targeting a fishing boat in the waters near Rafah in the south of Gaza with heavy gunfire.
Security sources have told Alresalah that the Egyptian navy opened fire towards a fishing boat which resulted in the boat catching fire. This was followed by gunfire from Israeli vessels.
They said ambulances and Palestinian Civil Defence forces were called to the beach fearing the fishermen were injured, according to Middle East Monitor (MEMO) reports quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA), Saturday.
Meanwhile Ma’an News Agency reported Israeli forces detained five Gaza fishermen off the coast of Gaza City early Wednesday, an employee of a human rights group told Ma’an.
The employee, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Ma’an that Israeli naval forces opened fire “heavily” on a group of Palestinian fishermen.
Israeli forces “forced a boat of five fisherman from the Bakr family to stop, detained them, and dragged the boat to an unknown location.”
No injuries were reported.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said that there were two “Palestinian vessels” carrying seven people near the northern Gaza Strip that “deviated from the designated fishing zone.”
Israeli forces called on them to stop and fired warning shots into the air, and when the boats did not stop, in the “vicinity of the vessels.”
The forces then took the Palestinians in for questioning, the spokeswoman said.
She said the Palestinians were 3,600 yards (1.8 nautical miles) from the fishing zone.
The Aug. 26 ceasefire agreement reached with Palestinian militant groups stipulated that Israel would immediately expand the fishing zone off Gaza’s coast, allowing fishermen to sail as far as six nautical miles from shore, and would continue to expand the area gradually.
Since then, there have been widespread reports that Israeli forces have at times opened fire at fishermen within those new limits.
Prior to the recent agreement, Israeli forces maintained a limit of three nautical miles on all Gaza fishermen, opening fire at fishermen who strayed further, despite earlier agreements which had settled on a 20-mile limit.
The restrictions crippled Gaza’s fishing industry and impoverished local fishermen. (T/P3/P2)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
