’Israeli’ Navy Shells Palestinian Fishing Boats off Gaza

Local Editor

"Israeli" navy ships fired shells at Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of the besieged Gaza Strip, completely destroying one of them.

Palestinian sources said the boat exploded after being hit by Zionist shells late on Tuesday. Later on, fire broke out fully consuming the boat although no immediate reports on possible casualties among the fishermen were published.

Relatively, around 4,000 fishermen work in Gaza, with more than half of them living below the poverty line. Yet the "Israeli" regime's occupation forces imposed limits of three nautical miles for fishing in waters off the Gaza shore until August 2014.

In the context, and under a ceasefire agreement that ended a deadly 50-day "Israeli" war on the strip back then, Tel Aviv agreed to immediately expand the fishing zone off Gaza's coast and to allow fishermen to sail as far as six nautical miles off the shore.

Furthermore, the agreement also stipulated that "Israel" should expand the area gradually up to 12 miles.

However, Palestinian fishermen stated that the "Israeli" navy opens fire on them before they reached the agreed limit. Over the past two years, "Israeli" forces had carried out about 150 attacks on Palestinian boats, arresting nearly two dozen fishermen and impounding nine boats.

It is worth mentioning that the Gaza Strip has been under "Israeli" blockade since June 2007. The blockade caused a decline in living standards as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.

The Zionist entity started its latest war on the Gaza Strip in early July last year, in which it ended on August 26, 2014, with a truce that took effect after indirect negotiations in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

Nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children, were killed in "Israel's" 50-day onslaught. Over 11,100 others, including 3,374 children, 2,088 women and 410 elderly people, were also injured.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team