Days Of Palestine – Gaza
Three Palestinian fishermen suffered injuries on Tuesday when Israeli naval forces attacked them off the shores of the besieged Gaza Strip.
According to the Fishermen Committees in Gaza, Israeli gunboats circled the fishing boat of Yaser al-Lahham during its presence within six nautical miles from the coast of Rafah area, south of Gaza, before spraying the boat with jets of water from cannons.
The naval occupation forces prevented the fishermen aboard the fishing boat from pulling up their net and tried to swamp the vessel with water, but luckily nearby fishermen intervened and used their boats to tow it away after its outboard motor stopped working when it was hit by jets of water from a gunboat.
The owner of the fishing boat, Yaser al-Lahham, was injured and two others suffered multiple bruises in the water cannon attack.
In addition to the damage which the boat and its motor sustained in the attack, the fishermen lost their net.
Israeli naval forces and their gunboats are around Gaza fishermen almost every day, harassing them, shooting at them, damaging their boats, and making arrests. Sometimes fishermen are injured or killed during gunfire attacks.
Under the 1993 Oslo accords, Palestinian fishermen are permitted to fish up to 20 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza, but since then Israel has kept reducing the fishing area gradually to a limit between six to three nautical miles as part of its blockade on Gaza.
Fishermen and human rights groups also say that since the 2008-09 war in Gaza, the Israeli army has been regularly enforcing a limit even closer to the shore.
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