5 Palestinian Fishermen Detained by Israeli Navy off Gaza Coast

Israeli Navy Forces on Thursday morning arrested seven Gaza fishermen and confiscated their boats off the Sudaniya shores northwest of Gaza Strip.

The head of the fishermen union, Nizar Ayyash, said that Israeli navy boats confiscated a Palestinian fishing boat late Wednesday while five fishermen were on board.

The five detainees were identified as Muhammad Rafat Bakr, Khamis Awad Bakr, Muhammad Maher Bakr, Salim Abu Sadeq, and Muhammad Mahmoud Al-Luh.
Ayyash condemned these detentions.

On Wednesday, the Israeli navy had attacked and arrested two fishermen at the same shore when they were around six miles into the sea. Such attacks by the Israeli navy have been taking place in the blockaded Gaza Strip on a semi-daily basis, in a barefaced violation of the Cairo-brokered ceasefire accord signed in the wake of the 2014 Israeli offensive on the coastal enclave.

Israeli forces regularly detain Palestinian fisherman off the coast of Gaza working within the fishing zone, generally for alleged security reasons.

According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Israeli forces detained 71 fishermen and confiscated 22 fishing boats throughout 2015.

Palestinians who work near the “buffer zone” between the Palestinian enclave and Israel often come under fire from military forces, as the Israeli military has not made clear the precise area of the designated zone.
The practice has in effect destroyed much of the agricultural and fishing sectors of the blockaded coastal enclave.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces reportedly opened fired from towers of the Kissufim military site at Palestinian lands in eastern Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported.