Gaza: occupation forces open fire at Palestinian fishermen and farmers 

Israeli occupation forces opened fire against Palestinian fishermen off the coast of the besieged Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Wafa has reported.

At the time that the Israeli occupation navy opened fire, the fishermen were just three nautical miles off the coast. They were forced to return to Gaza’s small fishing port.

Human right organisations in Gaza have documented hundreds of Israeli violations against Palestinian fishermen since October 2000. Their boats have been damaged, destroyed or confiscated, and many have been killed and wounded by the Israeli occupation navy.

Despite the Israel-Palestinian agreements which allow fishermen to work off the coast of Gaza for up to 12 nautical miles, the occupation navy attacks fishermen almost every day and does not allow them to sail beyond three nautical miles. The fishermen insist, understandably so, that this is not enough to catch a commercially-viable volume of fish.

In a related incident, shots were also fired by Israeli occupation troops at Palestinian farmers working on their land in Borat Abu Samra in the north of the Gaza Strip city of Beit Lahiya. They were forced to seek safety away from their farms.

No casualties were reported among the fishermen and the farmers on this occasion. The shooting incidents were part of the pressure placed on the Palestinians in Gaza living under the Israeli blockade.

READ: Israel lifts ban on sale of Gaza fish in West Bank