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Israel navy fires at Palestinian fishermen off Gaza coast

May 20, 2022 at 1:33 pm

Gazan fishermen bring a boat to shore at the seaport of Gaza City on February 16, 2022. [Ali Jadallah – Anadolu Agency]

Israeli navy forces opened fire at Palestinian fishermen and their boats off the northern coast of the besieged Gaza Strip this morning, the Palestinian Information Centre reported.Israeli gunboats fired machine guns at the fishing boats sailing within a few nautical miles off the northwestern shores of Gaza.No casualties were reported during the attack, which forced the fishermen to return ashore.

According to the Palestinian Fishermen’s Association in Gaza, there are some 4,000 fishermen working in Gaza’s fishing sector, who are looking after about 50,000 dependents.

The profession has been deemed dangerous by rights organisations due to Israel’s harassment of fishermen at sea.

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In 2020, Israeli occupation forces attacked Palestinian fishermen off the coast of the Gaza Strip on at least 320 occasions, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) reported, 63 more attacks than the previous year. Israel also closed the fishing area altogether for 16 days in August.