Tag: Fishermen

Israeli forces stole 21 boats and sank two more just in the last 3 months

5th July 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza team | Gaza, occupied Palestine

Just in the last 3 months Gaza’s fishermen had 21 boats stolen and 2 sunken by the Israeli occupation forces.

Each small boat sustains at least 20 people on average and each one of the big ones at least 100 people. That means that just in the last 3 months around 550 people lost their source of income and were left in a situation of severe food insecurity.

All of these attacks took place within the fishing limit imposed by the occupation, as one of the fishermen interviewed by ISM pointed out: “they always know who they are taking, it’s not by chance or because we cross any of the limits they impose on us. They come for us. They kidnapped me and my cousin while we were less than a mile from the coast, and on that day the limit they gave us was for 6 miles”.

It is known that one of the main reasons to kidnap the fishermen is in order to try to buy them or blackmail them into becoming collaborators.

Fishermen kidnapped by Israeli occupation forces

One fisherman that insisted on remaining anonymous, given the sensitivity of this matter, explained to ISM what happened to him while he and his cousins were in Ashdod port: “they sat us in a room and we had in front of us a table with two trays, one with money and another one with gold. They told us that if we work with them all of it would be for us. Then they started asking us about our neighbours, relatives and anyone they thought we could know something about”.

Most of the fishermen kidnapped are tortured during the interrogation in Ashdod port and suffer from several kinds of physical and verbal abuse. They are beaten, their heads get rubbed on the floor or with a dirty mop and the soldiers step on their faces with their military boots. Those are just some common examples from most testimonies.

But humiliations already start in the sea, where most of the fishermen are told to strip off their clothes and swim naked towards the warship of the occupation forces. In many cases by that moment they have been already injured by rubber coated steel bullets, buckshot-filled sacks or even live ammunition.

Testimony of one of the latest attacks against Gaza’s fishermen

12th June 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza-team | Gaza Strip, occupied Palestine

Last Wednesday Rajab Khaled Abu Riela, 30 years old, his brother and two cousins left Gaza’s port at 12 pm. They stayed out fishing until 1:30 am. “When we started our way back to the port one Israeli warship approached, the soldiers started insulting us through the microphone and immediately after started shooting against our two small boats with live ammunition”. “Then their warship crashed against us. In that moment I decided to try to escape, but I was immediately shot in the leg with live ammunition”. They took Rajab and his brother to Ashdod port, where they wouldn’t give him any medicine or treatment for the injury he sustained by the Israeli forces. “I was left bleeding until 9:30am”. Finally they were sent back to Gaza, where an ambulance took him directly from Erez border to the hospital, where he had to undergo surgery.

When he finally reached Shifa Hospital, doctors managed to remove the biggest pieces of the bullet – but many small pieces still remain in his leg.

Rajab's mother shows the bullet removed from his leg — Rajab’s mother shows the bullet removed from his leg

“Our future [for the fishermen] is uncertain; we don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Israel assaults us every day, takes our boats, shoots at us… Since 2005 I have pain in my chest due to an attack of the occupation, and as well my brother was injured while fishing in 2008. I’m responsible for providing for my family, we are 21 members… Now no one is providing for us, as I’m injured and they took our boat and motor. How I can work now without a boat?”

Unarmed Fisherman killed by Egyptian Forces in Gaza

November 8th, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza team | Gaza Strip, occupied Palestine

Thursday evening November the 5th, Egyptian Forces opened fired on 18-year old Faris Meqdad and his younger brother while fishing in Palestinian waters. The brothers were in a small fishing vessel within the 3 nautical mile limit of the Gazan coast when Faris was hit in the abdomen and his brother injured. Faris died after being brought to the hospital.

Family mourn the passing of Faris Meqdad, 18

Maha Hussaini, spokesperson for the Gaza branch of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (EMHRM), told Al Jazeera on Friday: “Meqdad wasn’t in Egyptian waters, he was in Palestinian waters and was shot by the Egyptians. He was completely unarmed and posed no threat to the Egyptian forces”.

The boys were in fact within the current 3 nautical mile limit (5,6 km) that during the past two decades has been reduced from 20 nautical miles (37 km). The reduced limit is an element of the naval blockade on Gaza that prevents Gazan fishermen from accessing “quality” fish. Higher value fish such as tuna are not present within the 3nm limit and fishing is desolate concerning the size of fish.

Faris Meqdad is yet another victim of the stranglehold grip on Gaza. Another son has been lost, and the world watches on.

Sami Ali El Goga – The Story of a Gazan Fisherman

Sami Ali El Goga - fisherman who was attacked by the Israeli navy. — Sami Ali El Goga – fisherman who was attacked by the Israeli navy.

ISM Gaza met the fisherman Sami Ali El Goga, 36, who lost his hand and part of his arm the 12th March 2007, when he was attacked by the Israeli navy. In the same attack his boat was completely destroyed and his 13-year-old nephew, who was in the boat with him, sustained shrapnel wounds throughout his body.

Eight years later he is still waiting for the assistance promised by several international agencies, as he hasn’t been able to work since the attack, and without the boat a 20-member-family lost its source of income.

On that day, Sami and his nephew had just reached the 1.5 miles naval blockade when the zionist army approached and started shooting rockets towards them. They attempted to escape to the closest beach, as there was no chance to reach the port. Once on the beach the shooting didn’t stop. Whilst attempting to escape from the boat with his nephew, it was hit by a rocket and in the explosion Sami was severely injured. He nearly bled to death waiting for medical assistance as the Israeli navy prevented any recue from reaching him until 30 minutes later.

After 3 hospitals in Gaza weren’t able to treat him the Palestinian Authority mediated in order that he could be treated in a Hospital in the ‘48 territories (AKA Israel), as the occupation had previously refused to allow him to exit Gaza. The doctors there amputated his hand and afterwards he was taken by the zionist intelligence for an interrogation before sending him back to Gaza.

This wasn’t the first attack Sami suffered, as another boat from his family had been stolen by the occupation in the past.

Israeli forces continue abuses on Gaza fishermen, open fire at dawn

21st July 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza Team | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

At 3:00 AM on the 21st of July 2015, Israeli forces once again opened fire on fishermen in the Gaza city area. 20 year old Ahmed Ismail al-Sharafi was shot in the right side of the back. The bullet exited very close to the spine. Two other fishermen were arrested and one of the boats was taken to Ashdod port.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reports that in May alone, there were a total of 51 incidents of shootings, incursions into the coastal enclave, and arrests. This included 41 shootings, which left nine injured, including one minor.

Despite Israeli promises at the end of the ceasefire to ease restrictions on Palestinian access to both the sea and the border region near the “security buffer zone,” these attacks continue on a very often basis.

More wounds on Ahmed's body. — More wounds on Ahmed’s body.

Photo credit to https://www.facebook.com/fishermengaza?fref=photo