Egypt navy arrests Palestinian fishermen

Palestinian fishermen ride their boats as they return from fishing at the seaport of Gaza City on 26 September 2016. [REUTERS/Mohammed Salem]

Egypt’s naval forces yesterday arrested Palestinian fishermen off the Gaza Strip’s southern coast.

The head of the Palestinian fishermen’s syndicate in Gaza, Nizar Ayyash, told Quds Press that the Egyptian navy arrested and confiscated the boat of two brothers, Samy and Ibrahim Adwan, while they were fishing on the maritime border between Palestine and Egypt off Gaza’s southern coast.

Palestinian fishermen sometimes resort to fishing in the Egyptian waters to escape being chased by Israeli gunboats.

Since 2006, the Israeli occupation has been imposing a land and sea blockade on Gaza, where some two million Palestinians live, limiting fishing to an area of only six nautical miles, which fishermen say leaves them with not enough catch to sell.

Watch: Gaza Fisherman battles poverty with boat made of plastic bottles

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