Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continue to escalate its violation against Palestinian fishermen in Gaza waters.
The IOF regularly opens fire against fishermen, detains them, confiscates their fishing boats, and damages their fishing equipment preventing them from working.
Palestinian fishermen are subject to inhumane treatment when they are arrested.
  In addition, the IOF forces fishermen to take off their clothes and swim to Israeli vessels in cold water, then handcuffs and blindfolds them before subjecting them to interrogation.
  When the fishermen are released their suffering continues as they struggle to recover their boats and belongings from impoundment in Israel.
These escalating attacks come in the context of Israel’s maritime siege on the Gaza Strip, which prevents Palestinian fishermen from working, even within the Israeli-imposed “fishing zone” of three nautical miles along the Gazan coast.
The Israeli authorities are thus seeking to entrench the marine siege.
  The IOF deliberately opens fire on and around Palestinian fishermen and damages their boats and engines, preventing them from working, even when the fishermen are within the Israeli-imposed “fishing zone.
” According to Al Mezan’s field investigations, over the course of September the IOF has escalated its attacks on Palestinian fishermen.
  In this month alone, the IOF carried out three attacks on fishermen.
According to Al Mezan’s field investigations, at approximately 9:00 am on Tuesday 11 September 2012, Israeli naval vessels patrolling the Gazan sea opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats which were about two nautical miles northwest of the Al Waha resort in North Gaza district.
Two Israeli inflatable boats pursue Palestinian fishermen to the coast and destroyed the fishing nets of Hasan Ibrahim Meqdad, 33; and Zuhair Mahmoud Al ‘Amudi, 34.
The Israeli boats then pursue ten Palestinian fishing boats in the samd area.
The firing lasted for about one hour.
  The firing frightened the fishermen and they sailed to land immediately.
No casualities or injuries were reported.
  Al Mezan strongly condemns Israel’s continuous violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law in its dealings with Palestinian fishermen.
  Al Mezan considers Israel’s demarcation a no-go line for Palestinian fishermen (marked by illuminated buoys), the ongoing Israeli maritime siege, and the policy of preventing fishermen from working in the areas most full of fish as part of a series of collective punishments imposed on the Gaza Strip.
  It is part of the general Israeli siege on Gaza, which is a form of collective punishment that is banned under international law and may amount to a war crime and a crime against humanity.
Therefore, Al Mezan reiterates its previous call on the international community to promptly intervene to uphold its legal and moral obligations under international law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilians in Time of War, and to ensure respect of the principles of IHL at all times.
It also calls on the international community to take immediate steps to lift the illegal siege imposed on Gaza, including by ensuring freedom to work for Palestinian fishermen.
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