Israeli naval forces shoot dead Palestinian fisherman off Gaza coast

Palestinian authorities say Israeli naval forces have killed a fisherman after opening fire on a Palestinian fishing boat off the coast of the besieged Gaza Strip.

The local Union of Agricultural Work Committees said in a statement that the fishermen, identified as 23-year-old Nawaf Ahmed al-Attar, was targeted while fishing northwest of the coast of Beit Lahia city, located about five kilometers north of Gaza City, on Wednesday evening.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said Attar was taken to hospital in a critical condition, and succumbed to the grave gunshot wounds he had suffered in his abdomen shortly afterwards.

There was no comment from the Israeli military on the fatal incident.

According to Palestinian estimates, roughly 50,000 Gazans earn their living from fishing.

Israel imposed a limit of three nautical miles on fishing in the waters off the Gaza shore until August 2014, when Palestinian fishermen were allowed to go out six miles under a ceasefire agreement reached between the Israelis and Palestinians following a deadly 50-day Israeli war in the same month.

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The Israeli navy opens fire on dozens of Palestinian fishing boats that sailed off the shore of Gaza to break the siege.

The fishing zone is supposed to extend to 20 nautical miles under the Oslo Accords. The Oslo Accords were signed between the Israeli regime and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) during the early-mid 1990s to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In May 2017, Israeli authorities increased the fishing area for Gazan fishermen to nine nautical miles.

Over the past few years, Israeli forces have carried out more than a hundred attacks on Palestinian boats, arresting dozens of fishermen and confiscating several boats.

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade since June 2007. The blockade has caused a decline in the standard of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.

Tensions have been running high near the fence separating the Gaza Strip from the occupied territories ever since anti-occupation protest rallies began in the coastal enclave on March 30. More than 230 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces. Nearly 23,000 Palestinians have also sustained injuries.

The Gaza clashes reached their peak on May 14, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe), which coincided this year with the US embassy relocation from Tel Aviv to occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds.

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Three more Palestinians have been killed and several others injured as Israeli fighter jets and artillery unit shell positions across the Gaza Strip.

On June 13, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution, sponsored by Turkey and Algeria, condemning Israel for Palestinian civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip.

The resolution, which had been put forward on behalf of Arab and Muslim countries, garnered a strong majority of 120 votes in the 193-member assembly, with eight votes against and 45 abstentions.

The resolution called on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to make proposals within 60 days “on ways and means for ensuring the safety, protection, and well-being of the Palestinian civilian population under Israeli occupation,” including “recommendations regarding an international protection mechanism.”

It also called for “immediate steps towards ending the closure and the restrictions imposed by Israel on movement and access into and out of the Gaza Strip.”

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