The Israeli occupation army on Thursday morning opened machinegun fire at Palestinian fishermen and their boats off the northern coast of the Gaza Strip.

Local sources said that Israeli gunboats opened fire at fishing boats off the shores of al-Sudaniya and al-Waha areas in northern Gaza.

They added that the gunboats chased some fishing boats, amid intensive gunfire, forcing them to return ashore.

Israeli 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 of 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.

 

Source: The Palestinian Information Center