Agencies-Gaza post
Israeli navy shoots at fishermen in Rafah
The Israeli occupation’s navy on Friday night opened fire on unarmed Palestinian fishermen as they were sailing off the shores of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, causing them to return to the shore, local sources reported.
Local sources said the Israeli navy fired live bullets on fishermen who were sailing approximately six nautical miles away from the shore, forcing them to stop fishing and back to the shore.
Sources reported that Israeli naval forces and their gunboats have long been harassing Gaza fishermen, shooting at them, destroying their boats, and making detentions. Sometimes fishermen were wounded or killed during gunfire episodes.
Besides the fishermen attacking, Israel regularly prohibits boats from reaching the water and decreases the fishing zone that Palestinians from Gaza can access.
Israeli naval authorities have been implementing a naval siege on Gaza’s 40-kilometer-length coast since 2007.
The siege has banned fishing for the 3,700 reported fishermen in Gaza – the plurality of whom live below the poverty line by shrinking the fishing zone from 25 nautical miles, down to only six to nine nautical miles, according to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.
