Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
Israeli naval forces have arrested two fishermen after opening fire on a Palestinian fishing boat off the coast of the besieged Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Information Center reported that the attack took place in the southern Gaza Strip area of Rafah on Saturday morning.
The fishermen aboard the boats were detained, while Israeli forces confiscated their boat and towed it to an Israeli port.
The detainees were identified as Mohammed al-Bardawil and Ahmad al-Bardawil.
Latest figures show the Israeli navy has kidnapped 30 Gaza fishermen within permitted fishing zone since the beginning of 2019.
In recent years, Israeli forces have carried out more than a hundred attacks on Palestinian boats, arresting dozens of fishermen and confiscating some of the vessels.
Under the Oslo Accords signed in 1993, Israel is obligated to permit fishing up to 20 nautical miles, but this has never been implemented.
The accords were signed between the Israeli regime and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) during the 1990s to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In practice, Israel only allowed fishing up to 12 nautical miles until 2006, when the fishing zone was reduced to six and later to three miles.
Israel maintains a heavy naval presence off the coast of the impoverished Palestinian enclave, severely affecting the livelihood of some 4,000 fishermen and at least 1,500 more people involved in the fishing industry.
Over the past few years, Israeli forces have carried out more than a hundred attacks on Palestinian boats, arresting dozens of fishermen and confiscating several boats.
The economy of Gaza has also suffered from years of Israeli and Egyptian blockades.
The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade since June 2007. It has caused a decline in the standard of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.
Israel has launched three major wars against the enclave, killing thousands of Gazans each time and shattering the impoverished territory’s already poor infrastructure.
