News / Palestine

Israeli forces arrest 10 Palestinian fishermen off Rafah coast over alleged attack

Wednesday, 04 April 2018 2:03 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 04 April 2018 3:44 PM ]

Palestinian fishermen prepare their net at the port in Gaza City on October 18, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Israeli naval forces have detained ten fishermen off the coast of the besieged Gaza Strip over allegations that they planned to carry out a missile attack and hostage-taking against a military ship.

Israel's internal spy agency, Shin Bet, announced in a statement that the detainees were from the city of Rafah, located 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Gaza City, adding that they were sailing outside a designated fishing zone off the blockaded enclave.

The statement alleged that one of the Palestinian fishermen, identified as 24-year-old Amin Juma, was a member of the Islamic Jihad resistance movement.

Shin Bet further claimed that Juma was assigned to collect information so that Palestinian fighters would launch an attack against an Israeli naval vessel using an anti-ship missile, and then take sailors on board hostage to exchange them with Palestinian prisoners.

On February 25, Israeli naval forces opened fire on a Palestinian fishing boat off the coast of the besieged Gaza Strip, killing a fisherman and injuring two others.

About 4,000 fishermen work in Gaza, half of whom live below the poverty line.

Israel imposed a limit of three nautical miles on fishing in the waters off the Gaza shore until August 2014, when Palestinian fishermen were allowed to go out six miles.

Under a ceasefire agreement reached between Israelis and Palestinians following a deadly 50-day Israeli war in August 2014, Tel Aviv agreed to immediately expand the fishing zone off Gaza’s coast, allowing Palestinian fishermen to sail as far as six nautical miles off the shore.

Under the Oslo peace accords, the fishing zone is supposed to extend to 20 nautical miles, but it has shrunk over the years as the Tel Aviv regime has imposed greater restrictions.

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 Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade since June 2007. The blockade has caused a decline in the standard of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir