Ref: 12/2013
Date: 12 February 2013
Time: 13:00 GMT

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns Israeli forces’ continuous attacks against Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip seawaters. PCHR is deeply concerned about the rise in such violations that have resulted in yet another incident in which the Israeli forces arrested 4 fishermen and confiscated a fishing boat from the Gaza Strip.

According to PCHR’s investigations, at approximately 06:00 hours on Sunday, 10 February 2012, an Israeli Naval Force gunboat attacked a fishing boat sailing 3 nautical miles off al-Sundaniya shore in the northern Gaza Strip. The 4 fishermen aboard the fishing boat have been identified as: Thabit Mohammed Baker (17) and his three brothers, Haitham (25), Amjad (23), and AwadTariq Baker (16), all residents of Gaza.

The Israeli Naval Force disrupted the fishing boat by directly firing at it from a distance of 20 meters, and forced the 4 fishermen to take off their clothes and swim to the gunboat. The fishermen were arrested, handcuffed and blindfolded by the Israeli forces andthen taken to the Israeli waters. The fishing boat was towed to the Israeli waters as well. The fishermen were questioned and interrogated by the Israeli forces, and were later released on the same day at approximately 18:00 hours via BeitHanoun Crossing (Erez). The Israeli forces are still withholding their fishing boat.

In light of the above incident, PCHR condemns these violations committed by Israeli Naval Force against Palestinian fishermen. PCHR believes that these violations are perpetrated in the context of the escalating collective punishment policies imposed against Palestinian civilians, and that such attacks are carried out under a policy to prevent civilians from meeting their subsistence needs. Such policies contravene the norms of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

PCHR calls upon the Israeli authorities to:

1. Immediately stop the policy of chasing and arresting Palestinian fishermen; to allow them to sail and fish freely; and to return their confiscated fishing boats and equipment;
2. Compensate the fishermen for the physical and material damage caused to them and their property as a result of these violations;
3. Compensate the fishermen for any damages caused by confining these boats for longer periods of time and for other related damages;
4. PCHR also callsupon the international community, including the High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Geneva Convention IV to put a just end to these Israeli violations against the Palestinian fishermen and allow them to fish freely in the Gaza Sea.