Fisherman shot in the head and critically ill in Shifa’a Hospital in Gaza

Posted on the ISM page: March 25, 2010

ISM Gaza
25 March 2010
Fisherman Hazem Gora’ani, age 26, from the town of Deir Al Balah, south of Gaza City, was brought to Shifa Hospital with serious head wounds around 9 o’clock this morning.

Hazem Gora'ani in intensive care unit

An urgent operation lasting one and a half hours was performed to stop the bleeding inside his brain. Dr Samir Kahlout from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) told the ISM volunteers who visited Mr Gora’ani that his condition was critical and unstable and that he was unconscious following the operation. Over the next 72 hours Mr Gora’ani will be monitored and the decision will be made about the need for further operations, including to remove bits of shrapnel lodged in his brain.
We talked to Mr Gora’ani’s brother Nafiz who was anxiously waiting in front of the ICU with a relative and another two fishermen for news about Hazem.
Nafiz was not present when the incident happened and he gave us an account by their brother who was fishing with Hazem and a third fisherman in a small hassaka boat this morning.
They were fishing well inside the Palestinian waters, less than three nautical miles away from the shore with another hassaka, when they were approached by the Israeli speed boat who attempted to kidnap them and take them to Ashkelon.
They panicked and tried to sail towards the coast. In response the Israeli soldiers opened a barrage of fire which critically injured Hazem. A collegue who was present in the hospital told us that there are a number of bullet holes in the hassaka.
A group of Gazan fisherman whom ISM talked with recently told us that Israeli soldiers fire at the fishermen so frequently that incidents are rarely reported if they did not result in serious injury. Only a few weeks ago two hassakas were kidnapped by the Israeli soldiers and destroyed after being taken to Ashkelon, whilst the fishermen were being interrogated and later released.

Updated on March 25, 2010

IOF shoot Gazan fisherman

Thursday, 25 March 2010 12:19 Added by PT Editor maysaa jarour

Gaza, March 25, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) – Israeli gunships opened fire on Thursday at Palestinian fishing boats off the coasts of northern Gaza Strip and injured a fisherman.
Hasim Juma Qzaan was injured and taken to Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia in the northern sector, Palestinian sources said.
Palestinian fishing boats are targeted daily, as Israel claims that they exceed the three-mile fishing limit.
Photo: Mohammed Asad



Al Mezan


25-3-2010

Israeli Gunboats Open Fire on Palestinian Fishing Boats; injure one

At app. 9:30am on Thursday 25 March 2010,  IOF naval vessels that patrol Gaza sea opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats which were north to Al-Waha resort, west of Beit Lahyia town in the North-Gaza district. As a result, Hazem Ahmed Jom'a Al Qur’aan, 27, was injured in the head by the shrapnel of a bullet. According to medical sources at Kamal Odwan Hospital, his injuries are critical. He was referred to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

In his affidavit to Al Mezan, fisherman Jamil Hassan Al-Aqraa’ stated that ‘as Palestinian fishing boats moved in the sea, and only after moving for 70 meters, Israeli boats opened fire at them directly, causing injury to my relative, Hazem, and damage to his boat (hasaka) severly’.

PCHR weekly report 10-15/12/2009: 5 fishermen abducted by Israeli Navy

extract from PCHR weekly report No. 49/2009 10- 15 Dec 2009

Tuesday, 15 December 2009

At approximately 14:30, Israeli gunboats opened fire at a Palestinian fishing boat.  They then besieged the boats.  They forced 5 Palestinian fishermen who were on the boat to jump into water and arrested them:

1.    Mohammed Sa'id Abu Riala, 23;

2.    'Aatef Sa'id Abu Riala, 23;

3.    Mahmoud Sa'id Abu Riala, 18;

4.    Fakher 'Emad Abu Riala, 23; and

5.    Ramadan al-'Aklouk, 22.

The boat was also damaged.  Israeli naval troops took the fishermen and the boat to the Israeli Ashdod Harbor.  The fishermen were interrogated there and were released at approximately 00:30 on Wednesday, 16 December 2009.

New Israeli attacks and abductions of Palestinian fishermen

The Israeli Navy continues its aggression towards the Palestinian fishermen. Since the declaration of the "ceasefire" at least 5 fishermen have been injured by gunfire in the sea while another 5 have been reportedly injured on shore by Israeli shelling. 40 abductions have been reported (at least 2 fishermen abducted twice) and 17 "confiscations" of fishing boats. About 10 fishing boats have been returned but with damages and equipment missing, and one hassaka was stolen again. Some of the latest incidents:

Wednesday 20^th of May 2009

Some hours before hundreds of Palestinian fishermen and supporters demonstrated in the sea, Khalil Abdullah Al Najar and his brother Ibrahim Abdullah Al Najar were abducted off shore of Rafah, while they were trying to collect their nets. Their hassaka (small fishing boat) along with the paddle and the net for sardines have been stolen. The two brothers were later released.

Khalil has been abducted again along with other 2 of his brothers and one of his cousins on the 25^th of March while fishing in a shanshula boat. The 4 fishermen were later released and after several days and the intervention of Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, the shanshula boat was also returned but without the motor.

Another brother, a cousin and an uncle of the 2 fishermen are prisoners in Israeli jails, they have been tortured and have been deprived of their right to be visited by their families.

Tuesday 26^th of May 2009

According to their testimony, Nahed Hassan Abdel Rahman Hassouna (41) and Mohammed Abdel Rahman Hassouna (45), at about 6.30 am, while they were fishing about 200 meters from the Rafah shore and about 3 km from the Egyptian border, they were approached by a zodiac of the Israeli Navy. The zodiac started to go around the hassaka. The Israeli soldiers ordered the Palestinian fishermen to leave their nets and gave them a cable to pull the small fishing boat towards a bigger gunboat. The 2 fishermen were ordered to take off their clothes, jump in the water and swim to the bigger Daboura gunboat. When they arrived they were handcuffed and blindfolded by the Israeli soldiers who took them along with their hassaka to Ashdod port.

According to the testimony of one of the 2 fishermen, the Israeli security officer asked them to collaborate with the Israeli military, to become spies. The fishermen refused. The reply of one of them was that he doesn't know anything and he only works from the sea to his house. So the Israelis accused them to have reached the Egyptian borders, something that the fishermen denied. Later, at about 6.45 pm they were released but their hassaka remains stolen along with the paddle.

The fishermen told the ISM Gaza Strip volunteers that this is the worst year for them ever and that the only thing they want is to survive and live with security.

The same night of 26^th of May, at about 11 pm, another brother of the Najar family, Youssef Abdullah Al Najar ( who was also abducted on the 25^th of March ) was attacked again by the Israeli Navy. According to his father Abdullah Khalil Abdullah Al Najar, the boat owner, Youssef was fishing in a felouka boat (see photo) when he was approached by an Israeli gunboat which started to make circles around the fishing boat. The waves made the felouka turn upside down and the fisherman lost part of his equipment: a 9hp 5 KW generator, which cost when is used 5,000 NIS, but it cost 8,000 NIS to buy a new one. And 2 projector lights 400W (see photo) which cost 100 US $ each.

Wednesday 27^th of May 2009

The next morning, approximately in the same area, another felouka (see photo) was attacked in the same way, and was turned upside down, and the boat owner Jamal Bassel lost a 10hp 5KW generator that costs about 1,000 US $. Also 2 of his projector lights were damaged and it will cost him about 100 to 150 NIS to fix each one of them. According to him, one of the fishermen in the felouka was lightly injured during the incident when the paddle hit him at the chest.

In another area, in northern Gaza Strip, Zaki Taroush (45) and his son Zayed Zaki Moustafa Taroush (17) were fishing at about 200 m south of Wafa and about 600 m from the coast. At about 6.00 am they were approached by 2 Izraeli zodiacs who opened fire around the hassaka. Zaki Taroush tried to escape but on of the zodiacs blocked it's way. The Israeli soldiers told the Palestinian fishermen to go west. Zaki replied that they were fishing in an allowed area. But the Israeli soldiers ordered him to stop talking and go west. Zaki saw another hassaka forced to go west, with Jihad As Sultan and Mohammed Ahmed Abou Warda. Zaki was forced to paddle his hassaka for about an hour and a half till he reached a buoy marking the borders. He was then forced to strip completely naked and then jump in the water and swim for about 50 meters to an Israeli gunboat. There him and his son were blindfolded and handcuffed. In fact Zaki was blindfolded twice and very tightly something that made him hurt. He was given clothes and his son a blanket. He was brought to Ashdod, examined by a doctor and made sign a paper that his health was OK. He was then taken for interrogation and he recognized the same officer that has interrogated him before. [Zaki Taroush, with another of his sons, were abducted on the 13^th of March. They were later released but their hassaka has been confiscated for almost 2 months, and it was returned a couple of weeks ago, along with 8 other hassakas, through the Karem Abou Salem crossing. The fishermen had to pay about 150 NIS for the transportation of the hassakas back home. Zaki has also lost a house that has built for his sons and it was bulldozed by the IOF during the recent war]

Zaki Taroush was interrogated about an incident that happened on the 13^th of April and the Israelis claim that it was an attack from the Palestinian armed resistance. It happened in the area that usually Zaki is fishing. He told them that he wasn't there that day but they didn't believe him. He was trying to explain that he couldn't possibly be there because his hassaka was still "confiscated" by the Israeli Navy. The Israelis told him that he has to be responsible for his area and not to worry because they will protect him. He replied that he can't give them information because that will make him spy for all of his life and finally he will be killed by the resistance. He cannot work for them and he has to work to bring food for 10 people at home. They Israelis asked him to keep in touch with them. They asked for his mobile number, and said that he couldn't remember. Then they found his house number and they called and put him to speak with his other son. At about 7 o'clock they were all released.

Jihad As Sultan (46) had a very similar story to tell. The only difference is that he was accused to cross the Israeli borders. The Israelis shot the balloons that were holding his nets and he lost them, which makes a loss of 1,000 US $, but he estimates the total loss of his fishing property up to 5.000 US $. He was also asked to work for the Israelis. They said that if he wants to work in this area he has to work for them. He was also given a vague sketch [see photo] showing roughly the areas that the Palestinian fishermen are allowed to fish. While he was in custody he managed to see a lot of the nets stolen from the Gazan fishermen. It was the third time that Jihad was abducted by the Israeli Navy. The first time was 9 years ago and the second, last August.

Note: ISM Gaza Strip volunteers, in the evening of 28^th of May, while they were heading to Sudaniya to meet the Taroush family, they witnessed Israeli gunboats open fire towards Palestinian fishing boats. The attack was obvious as the Israelis were also using tracer bullets. During the meeting with the fishermen, the attack has been intensified and the Israeli Navy used also shells.

ISM Gaza Strip

Photos: Shadi Slman

Damaged Palestinian fishing boats 20/5/2009

These are some of the "hassakas" , small fishing boats of poor Palestinian fishermen in Salateen, Gaza Strip, damaged by the Israeli Navy. The first two were stolen in March 2009 and were returned after two months, about a week ago, in this condition. The third one was destroyed in 2006 by Israeli Navy shelling of the beach

Reaction in Gaza as the boats stolen by the Israeli navy are returned damaged

Posted on the ISM webpage on: November 30, 2008

Three Palestinian trawling vessels confiscated by Israeli naval forces were returned on Thursday 27th November.

ISM Gaza Strip made this video as the boats were finally returned.

Almost immediately following the announcement that three Human Rights Groups had filed an appeal against Ehud Barak and the commander of the Israeli navy the boats were returned to Palestinian waters. The vessels were stolen from Gazan waters on 18th November while fishing in Palestinian territorial water.

Filed by Al-Mazan, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), the appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court was on behalf of the vessels’ owners. The appeal, sent to the Israeli Supreme Court, asked why the boats have not been released and why the fishermen have not been compensated for their loss of income and their loss of use of the boats for the past week.

Rather than answer these questions in court, raising serious contradictions to the Israeli claim that Gaza is no longer occupied, Israel’s navy informed the lawyers that the boats would probably be returned immediately. Less than 24 hours later the boats were returned, though initial reports suggest that they had sustained serious damage and that expensive equipment has been stolen.

Video by ISM Gaza Strip

Israel attempts to avoid court challenge by returning stolen Palestinian fishing boats

Posted on the ISM webpage on: November 27, 2008

Thursday 27th November, 2008 - Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Palestine

Three Palestinian trawling vessels confiscated by Israeli naval forces were returned today almost immediately following yesterdays announcement that three Human Rights Groups had filed an appeal against Ehud Barak and the commander of the Israeli navy. The vessels were stolen from Gazan waters on 18th November while fishing in Palestinian territorial water.

Filed yesterday by Al-Mazan, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), the appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court was on behalf of the vessels’ owners. The appeal, sent to the Israeli Supreme Court, asked why the boats have not been released and why the fishermen have not been compensated for their loss of income and their loss of use of the boats for the past week.

Rather than answer these questions in court, raising serious contradictions to the Israeli claim that Gaza is no longer occupied, Israel’s navy informed the lawyers that the boats would probably be returned immediately. Less than 24 hours later the boats were returned, though initial reports suggest that they had sustained serious damage and that expensive equipment has been stolen.

“While the return of 1/4 of Gaza’s trawling fleet after they were stolen by the Israeli navy is a relief to Gaza’s fishermen, the fact that it only took the threat of court action in their own legal system for the boats return demonstrates how baseless Israel’s claim of not occupying Gaza is” said Fida Qishta, local human rights activist from Rafah and ISM co-ordinator in the Gaza Strip.

Held in Ashdod, the fishing boats were transferred into Palestinian waters six nautical miles offshore at approximately 16:00 Gaza time and reached the port of Gaza City shortly before 18:00.

There are only 12 boats of this size in the Gaza Strip, so the confiscation represented one quarter of such boats available to the Gazan population.The boats were abducted 7 1/2 miles from the port of Deir al-Balah, well within ‘Zone L’, which, under the Oslo agreement, gives them the right to be fishing within their own 20 nautical mile limit.

The boats’ captains reported damage to their vessels’ - indeed one trawler had to be towed in by a second due to engine damage. Equipment such as GPS devices were also missing. The fishermens’ loss of earnings over the last ten days is still being estimated.

The three human rights observers from the International Solidarity Movement who were accompanying the fishermen at the time of the Israeli assault were held at Maasiyahu detention centre in Ramle, despite never being charged. All have now been illegally deported by the Israeli authorities. Vittorio Arrigoni was deported to Italy on Sunday 23rd November, Andrew Muncie to the UK on Tuesday 25th and Darlene Wallach to the US early on Thursday 27th November.

Three Palestinian fishing boats returned

Posted on the FGM website on: Thursday, 27 November 2008 14:35

Written by FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday 27th November, 2008 – Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Palestine

Three Palestinian trawling vessels confiscated by Israeli naval forces whilst fishing in Gazan territorial waters on 18th November were returned today. Fifteen Palestinian fishermen were also abducted during the operation but have since been released.

The fishing boats, held in Ashdod, were transferred into Palestinian waters six nautical miles offshore at approximately 16:00 Gaza time and reached the port of Gaza City shortly before 18:00.

This action follows an appeal filed yesterday in the Israeli Supreme Court on behalf of the vessels' owners for the return of their property. Lawyers intended to challenge the arbitrary limits imposed on Gazan fishermen by the Israeli navy which contravene prior agreements and international regulations.

The boats' captains reported damage to their vessels – indeed one trawler had to be towed in by a second due to engine damage. Equipment such as GPS devices were also missing. The fishermen's loss of earnings over the last ten days is still being estimated.

The three human rights observers from the International Solidarity Movement who were accompanying the fishermen at the time of the Israeli assault were held at Maasiyahu detention centre in Ramle, despite charges never having been brought against them. All have now been illegally deported by the Israeli authorities. Vittorio Arrigoni was deported to Italy on Sunday 23rd November, Andrew Muncie to the UK on Tuesday 25th and Darlene Wallach to the US early on Thursday.