Israeli naval boats Saturday opened heavy machine gunfire on Palestinian fishermen sailing within the allowed fishing zone offshore Gaza City, according to WAFA correspondent.
WAFA reporter said Israeli naval boats indiscriminately opened heavy gunfire on fishermen sailing within the unilaterally-imposed six-nautical-mile fishing zone, causing damages to at least two boats.
No casualties were reported among the fishermen who fled the scene for fear of being injured, killed or arrested.
Israeli naval boats routinely open fire on Palestinian fishermen sailing within the six-nautical-mile allowed zone for fishing as well as on farmlands along the borders, flagrantly violating the ceasefire deal.
Israel and the Palestinian factions signed a ceasefire deal on August 26, 2014 ending the latest 2014 summer deadly Israeli onslaught on Gaza which claimed the lives of over 2,200 people, overwhelmingly civilians.
Under the ceasefire deal, Israel was to immediately ease the blockade imposed on the strip and expand the fishing zone off Gaza’s coast, allowing fishermen to sail as far as six nautical miles from shore, and would continue to expand the area gradually.
Israel has however failed to do so, repeatedly violating the ceasefire deal through opening fire on Palestinian fishermen within the fishing zone and reducing their intake.
The current six-nautical-mile fishing zone falls drastically short of the twenty nautical miles allocated to Palestinian fishermen in the 1993 Oslo Accords.
Palestine News & Information Agency – WAFA