200 fishermen killed in Gaza, fishing sector suffers $20m loss

The Israeli occupation army has killed 200 fishermen during the ongoing campaign of mass extermination in Gaza, the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture in the besieged enclave said in a statement yesterday.

The ministry revealed that the Israeli war on Gaza has resulted in the loss of approximately 4,600 tonnes of fish production, valued at $20,129,000.

Additionally, the war has forced nearly 4,000 fishermen out of employment.

On Tuesday, Israeli occupation forces arrested six fishermen, and yesterday a fisherman was critically injured.

Fearful of Israeli attacks on their boats, Palestinians have been forced to fish from shore, where they are only able to catch small fish which are not big enough to provide sustenance for their families. In addition to this, the waterways around Gaza have become polluted and much rubbish is now being brought onto shore along with any fish caught.

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

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

In 2020 alone, 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 of that year.

Dispatch from Gaza: Fishermen risk death to live