Israeli naval forces Saturday morning opened live fire at Gazan fishermen off the coast of the northern Gaza Strip.
Witnesses said that Israeli forces opened live fire at the fishermen working off the coast of the northern part of the besieged enclave, forcing them to head back to Gaza’s shores, reported Ma’an News Agency.
An Israeli army spokesperson said she would look into reports on the incident. The Israeli army regularly open fires on Palestinian fishermen and farmers along the border areas, despite a ceasefire agreement that ended the 2014 war.
There have also been intermittent reports of Israeli forces attempting to sink the boats of fishermen as they approach Israel’s unilaterally declared “buffer zone,” which lies on both the land and sea sides of Gaza. 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.
Earlier this month, a Palestinian fisherman went missing after an encounter with Israeli forces off the coast of Gaza, with his family announcing his death days later despite his body having yet to be recovered.
