The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) attacked on Tuesday morning Palestinian fishermen off the coast of Gaza City, injuring one of them and damaging a boat.
According to the fishermen’s syndicate in Gaza, one fisherman suffered multiple rubber bullet injuries when Israeli soldiers opened fire at him during his presence on his boat off the shore of the as-Sudaniya area in the northwest of Gaza City.
He was rushed to a local hospital for medical assistance.
The fishermen’s syndicate also said that at least one fishing boat sustained damage during the shooting attack, adding that Israeli gunboats fired rubber bullets and water cannons at other fishermen, forcing them to return ashore.
Israeli naval forces and their gunboats are around Gaza fishermen almost every day, harassing them, shooting at them, damaging their boats, and making arrests. Sometimes fishermen are injured or killed during gunfire attacks.
Under the 1993 Oslo accords, Palestinian fishermen are permitted to fish up to 20 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza, but since then Israel has kept reducing the fishing area gradually to a limit between six to three nautical miles as part of its blockade on Gaza.
Fishermen and human rights groups also say that since the 2008-09 war in Gaza, the Israeli army has been regularly enforcing a limit even closer to the shores.
