Ref: 15/2013
Date: 18 February 2013
Time: 13:00 GMT

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns the Israeli Navy’s escalation of attacks against Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip and expresses its deep concern for such escalation, which resulted in injuring two fishermen and partially damaging their boat today.

According to PCHR’s investigations, at approximately 11:00 on Monday, 18 February 2013, two Israeli gunboats attacked a Palestinian fishing boat, boarding 5 fishermen, sailing 3 nautical miles off al-Sundaniya shore in the northern Gaza Strip. The Israeli soldiers fired directly at the boat from a distance of approximately 10 meters. As a result, two fishermen were wounded: Abdel-Razeq Mahmoud Jarbou’ (16) and Abdallah Mas’oud al-Ghoul (24), from Gaza city. The wounded fishermen were transported to al-Shifaa Hospital in Gaza for treatment; their wounds were described as moderate. The shooting also inflicted partial damages to the attacked fishing boat, which belongs to Mahmoud Mohammed al-Jarbou’, from Gaza.

It should be noted that this incident occurred at 3 nautical miles, which is within the 6-nautical-mile limit allowed by the Israeli forces for the Palestinian fishermen to sail and fish at, under the terms of the truce deal signed between Israel and the Palestinian armed groups under Egyptian and international auspices on 22 November 2012.

PCHR condemns the continuous Israeli attacks against Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip, and:

1. Calls for immediately stopping the policy of chasing and arresting Palestinian fishermen, and allowing them to sail and fish freely;
2. Demands compensation for the fishermen for the physical and material damage caused to them and their property as a result of these violations;
3. Calls upon the international community, including the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of war, to intervene immediately to stop the Israeli violations against the Palestinian fishermen, and to allow them to sail and fish freely in the Gaza sea.