Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Israel detains 2 fishermen off Gaza coast

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces on Tuesday detained two Palestinian fishermen off the coast of Gaza City.

Officials from Gaza's Agriculture Ministry said Israeli naval forces detained Muhammad Khaled Abu Amira and Usama Nasser Abu Amira from a small fishing boat.

An Israeli military spokesman said the men "deviated from the fishing area" and were taken for questioning in Ashdod.

The ministry condemned the detention of the fishermen from Gaza waters, and demanded their immediate release.

Israel maintains a 3-nautical-mile fishing limit, enforced unilaterally since 2008 when the country launched its war on the coastal enclave. Prior to the war, a unilaterally declared 6-nautical-mile limit was imposed following the election of the Hamas government in 2006.

The last agreed-upon fishing limit for Gaza was 20 nautical miles, signed during the Oslo accords in the 1990s.

Israeli navy kidnaps two Palestinian fishermen
[ 11/01/2011 - 03:15 PM ]


GAZA, (PIC)-- Israeli navy forces kidnapped two Palestinian fishermen afternoon Tuesday off the Gaza coast while fishing in regional waters, the health ministry's fishery department said in a press release.
The statement said that the navy gunboats attacked the two fishermen Mohammed Abu Omaira and Osama Abu Omaira while on board their small fishing boat off the Gaza pier.
It said that the navy sailors took the fishermen away and left their small boat to capsize.
The ministry held the Israeli occupation authority fully responsible for the lives of the two fishermen, urging human rights groups and the Red Cross to immediately intervene to secure their release.
The Israeli navy last week abducted three Palestinian fishermen only two nautical miles off the coast of Gaza Strip. The IOA allows Palestinian fishermen to fish in an area three nautical miles off the coast.