Tag: Gaza

On Sunday October 5th, two international human rights observers accompanied a Gazan fishing boat offshore of Jabalya.

Soon an Israeli gunboat approached. The internationals, after a request from the Palestinian captain, made clear that there was an international presence on board. For a while the Israeli gunboat seemed to leave but then, suddenly, from a large distance began to fire shells very close to two Gazan fishing boats, including the one accompanied by the internationals. The Palestinian fishing boats were about 4 nautical miles from the coast.

Although the 2 fishing boats had already changed their course the Israeli gunboat intercepted them and started to fire machine gun shots in front of their bows (something which also constitutes a breach of the ceasefire agreement). This Israeli gunboat didn’t stop harassing the fishing boats till the moment a larger boat of the Israeli Navy arrived and began a severe water cannon attack on the fishing boat which the internationals were present on. The Israeli soldiers, from a close range were shooting high pressure water directly on to the Palestinian fishermen (including a minor) and the internationals. They were also shooting the water inside the wheelhouse preventing the captain from steering the fishing boat. They caused damages to the fishing boat including to electrical lights and by breaking the glass windows of the wheelhouse, and the wooden panels which had been attached to protect them. Fortunately no one was injured (in a similar incident on 16/9 an Italian activist had been injured by shattered glass and was hospitalized). There were also shots from the machine gun of the Israeli navy boat, while it was sailing side by side with the Gazan fishing boat.

Later, the same fishing boat received continuous harassment by other Israeli gunboats that were shooting with their machine guns around the fishing boat. There were times when the internationals observed at least 4 Israeli heavily armed gunboats having invaded Palestinian waters out of northern Gaza strip in order to harass no more than 3 Palestinian fishing boats in the whole area.

In the afternoon one of the gunboats approached the fishing boat and started circling it producing waves in order to destabilize it.

Finally, after the sunset, as the fishing boat was returning to port a distant gunboat began firing a machine gun in its general direction. Just how close this fire was to the boat was clear from the glow of the tracer bullets. The internationals also observed once more that in clear violation of international nautical law, the Israeli gunboats are not using their lights during night time.

On Saturday 4 October two international human rights observers accompanied a Gazan fishing boat in its daily work, important not only for the fishermen’s families but also for the Palestinian economy in general, especially in the besieged Gaza Strip.

When the fishing boat was at about 8 nautical miles from the coast it was intercepted by an Israeli gunboat that began circling it and from loud speakers ordering it to go back. After a request from the captain, one of the internationals talked on the VHF radio making clear that there was an international presence on board.The Gazan fishing boat continued to fish along the Gaza Strip, maintaining the same distance from the shore and the Israeli gunboat gave up trying to threaten it.

Later another Israeli gunboat approached the fishing boat, again after a request of the captain, one of the international human rights workers announced the international presence over the VHF radio and the Israeli gunboat didn’t proceed in any kind of harassment.

But a little bit after noon, people in this fishing boat observed an Israeli gun boat circling another Palestinian fishing boat and shooting very close to it (something which also constitutes a breach of the ceasefire agreement). The attacked fishing boat appeared to have stopped and was fishing roughly 7 nautical miles from shore. Again the internationals were requested to make a call through VHF radio asking the Israeli gunboat to cease its attack. The internationals also filmed part of the incident. The Israeli gunboat continued its harassment for a while but finally it quit.

International human rights workers will continue to accompany Gazan fishermen and monitoring the daily attacks that they suffer from the Israeli Navy.

Report written by Donna Wallach, ISM volunteer in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Palestine

Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Palestine, 21st September, 2008. On Sunday 21st September, about 5 fishing boats trawled the coast from the Gaza City port. I was on a boat that had been water cannoned the previous day and many of their nets had been damaged as a result. The crew spent most of the morning repairing the nets and at 11:40am we finally left the port for a full day of trawling.

At 12:30pm in the distance we saw two Israeli Naval gunboats, one was very large and was equipped with the water cannon. The regular sized gunboat started patrolling between three fishing boats that were in the same area. At 12:55pm that gunboat started harassing and shooting at one of the fishing boats headed south. I don’t know how far it was offshore, but it definitely wasn’t beyond six miles. At 1:10pm that same gunboat shot at the boat I was on and a soldier yelled “Go south”.

After some time passed and the gunboat was not in the area, the captain of our boat steered towards the north, there are larger fish in the northern Gazan waters, and apparently very tasty – and the fishermen REALLY wanted to catch as many of those fish as they could this day.

As we continued in our north east direction we saw the gunboat with the water cannon pass in the distance. At 1:40pm we saw another regular sized Israeli Naval gunboat approaching. It moved alongside in a threatening move as if to say, don’t go out any further into the sea! Ten minutes later the water cannon gunboat arrived and dowsed our boat and most of the crew with high powered blasts of water. One crew member, Ahmed, fell on the slippery deck and hurt his knee. For some unknown reason the gunboat only water cannoned us once for a brief time, causing no damage to the boat or the nets. I do not know what impact the water cannon has on the fish, much of the high powered blasts of water hit the sea and often times the net too. In any case, as in previous occasions, the smaller gunboat positioned itself on the opposite side of our boat from the water cannon gunboat, ready to shoot and posing a threat, besides blocking us in from escape from the deluge of high powered water. In addition, there were strong waves from the movement of the larger gunboat making our boat rock from side to side and increasing the danger from the blasting water and wet, slippery deck.

Later on in the afternoon, around 3:10, another Israeli Naval gunboat approached very quickly and forced us away from our position in the north of the Gazan territorial fishing waters. Soldiers were shouting to go south, among other things. The gunboat continued to circle our boat in very close proximity and was threatening to shoot. As we changed course and headed south, the gunboat proceeded to circle the boat for a while, and then left.

After the gunboat had been gone for a while, the captain of our boat changed course again and returned to the north, heading closer to shore, the goal of catching that specific fish had not been abandoned. At 4:00pm an Israeli Naval gunboat quickly approached, as it drew nearer I spoke on the VHF informing the Navy that “we are Palestinian fishermen, we are pulling in our net of fish. We have the right to be here. These are internationally recognized Gazan fishing waters. Over.” I repeated this a number of times. Finally a soldier on the gunboat arrogantly replied: “You don’t have the right to be here. Take your fish and go south.” We continued to pull in the net and headed south and out to sea. Only two netfulls of fish and neither of them were big catches, however, they did succeed to catch a number of boxes of the fish they were fishing for and for that they were happy.

The fishing boat headed into port after the sun set, and after eating the evening meal breaking the Ramadan fast for the day. They dropped me off, thanked me for my support, and headed back out to sea for an entire night of fishing. They had been fishing for two days and nights already.

The Israeli Navy controls the Gazan territorial waters under its illegal Occupation of the entire region and its siege of the Gaza Strip. Every day Palestinian fishermen face very real threats to their livelihood, their well being and their lives – a direct result of this decades long Israeli Occupation and this 2 year long siege. The Palestinian fishermen have the human right to a livelihood – to go out and fish, earn a living, feed their families and live their lives. The siege must end, the Occupation must end.

Gaza, 20th September 2008 – Members of ISM in the Gaza Strip accompanied Palestinian fishermen from the port of Gaza.

When they were approximately four nautical miles offshore the fishing vessel was approached by an Israeli gunboat which proceeded to circle it continuously for a while. Shortly after the gunboat withdrew, a larger naval vessel approached from the north-east and began to spray the fishing boat with high-pressure water from a cannon mounted on its bow.

Fortunately no-one was injured during the attack and no damage was done to the boat, largely because the fishermen had taken measures to protect it such as boarding-up the windows. The same boat suffered a similar assault again later in the day.

A second fishing vessel in the vicinity was observed also being attacked by water cannon. In the afternoon an Israeli gunboat closed in on the fishing boat carrying ISM members and fired live ammunition in very close proximity to the boat.