Israeli authorities have released three Palestinian fishermen who were detained earlier Wednesday off the coast of northern Gaza Strip.
Israeli authorities released Khalil Muhsen Abu Riyaleh, 25, Shaher Muhsen Abu Riyaleh, 20, and Muhammad Hasan Abu Riyaleh, 18, at the Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian local agencies.
Israeli navy forces detained three Palestinian fishermen on Wednesday morning after reportedly attacking and sinking their fishing boat off the coast of the besieged Gaza Strip, the speaker of the union of Gaza fishermen said.
Earlier, several Israeli naval boats attacked with gunfire a number of fishing boats while sailing offshore the coast of Gaza, before they detained three of them. They were taken to Ashdod seaport in southern Israel.
Israeli navy targets Gaza fishermen almost on a daily basis, in a blatant breach of a ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and armed Palestinian groups in august 2014, following 51 days of bloody aggression on the Gaza Strip, which claimed the lives of over 2.200 Palestinians, mostly civilians.
In a separate incident on Wednesday, locals in the northwestern Gaza City neighborhood of al-Sudaniya reported Israeli shelling and machine gun fire towards several Palestinian fishing boats. No casualties were reported.
On a near daily basis, the Israeli army fires “warning shots” on Palestinian fisherman, farmers, and shepherds entering the Israeli-enforced “buffer zone,” implemented after Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip a decade ago.
As part of Israel`s blockade of the coastal enclave since 2007, Palestinian fishermen have been required to work within a limited “designated fishing zone” off the coast.
The exact limits of the zone are decided by the Israeli authorities and have historically fluctuated, and was extended in 2014 to six nautical miles from three, following a ceasefire agreement that ended Israel`s offensive on the Palestinian territory.
The fishing zone was temporarily extended to nine nautical miles off the southern coast of Gaza for two months earlier this year.
However, the fishing zone was technically set to 20 nautical miles according to the Oslo Accords signed between Israel and the PA in the early 1990s.
According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), all Israeli attacks on Palestinian fishermen have taken 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 Palestinian Center has reported that Israeli naval forces often open fire on fishermen within these limits, putting their lives in danger on a near-daily basis.
Due to the high frequency of the attacks, live fire on fishing boats often goes unreported.
The Israeli army often says in such circumstances that the use of live fire is necessary to deter potential “security threats,” a policy that has in effect destroyed much of the agricultural and fishing sectors of the impoverished Palestinian territory, which has been under a crippling Israeli blockade since 2007.
