The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) kidnaped on Wednesday morning five Palestinian fishermen after attacking their boat off the shores of northern Gaza.
According to the fishermen’s syndicate, Israeli naval forces chased a fishing boat off the shore of the al-Waha area in northern Gaza and opened fire at it before rounding up five fishermen who were aboard it.
The Israeli forces also confiscated the fishing boat and its contents and towed it to Ashdod port, coordinator of the syndicate Zakariya Baker said.
Yesterday, the IOF also attacked fishing boats off the coast of Gaza City, injuring one fisherman and damaging his boat.
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.
