Since the beginning of 2022, the occupation forces have arrested about 63 fishermen from the Gaza Strip, and seized 25 fishing boats.
The head of the Fishermen’s Syndicate in the Gaza Strip, Nizar Ayyash, said in media statements that “2022 was a very bad year for the fishing sector due to the ongoing Israeli violations,” adding that “all the arrested fishermen have been released, except for 3 fishermen who are still in detention.”
He confirmed that the occupation authorities confiscated 25 fishing boats this year, and released only a large boat.
In 2022, a repeated ban has been imposed on fish marketing in the West Bank, which affected the financial returns of fishermen and exacerbated their poverty, as the income of the fisherman decreased during the current year by about 40 percent due to the repeated ban on exporting fish.
Fishermen are constantly subjected to shooting by the Israeli occupation, beatings, and arrest, whether at sea or near the shores of the Gaza Strip. They are harassed by inspection, confiscating their boats and fishing equipment, as well as preventing fishermen from practising their work, and forcing them to change their fishing locations.
In the Gaza Strip there are about 4,500 fishermen and 1,000 fishing boats.
The occupation forces attack Palestinians near the border areas of the Strip, and deliberately target farmers, fishermen and shepherds to tighten the siege on the people of Gaza.
More than two million Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip, in which more than two million Palestinians live, and suffer from difficult economic and living conditions, as a result of the Israeli blockade that has continued for more than 15 years.
