The body of a missing Palestinian fisherman was found on the shore of Gaza City, after being lost in the sea for a few days.
In the early hours of Saturday, April 20, 2023, an Egyptian navy boat ran over a Palestinian boat fishing in the Rafah area on the Egyptian border in the southern Gaza Strip, thus killing the fisherman Rami Ezzat Bakr.
The Palestinian Fishermen Syndicate stated that five days after his death, the body of the killed fisherman was found on the shores of the Gaza Strip.
They stressed that the Egyptian authorities did not cooperate over the past days in searching for the missing fisherman, although its naval forces were the ones attacking the Palestinian fishing boat, killing Rami, injuring Mahmoud Bakr, and another one who was lost before being found yesterday evening on the Beach in Gaza.
The syndicate denounced the “harsh” way in which the Egyptian forces dealt with fishermen during their fishing activities in Palestinian waters.
The Egyptian Navy repeatedly attacks Palestinian fishermen, and it has already killed the fishermen Mahmoud Muhammad Al-Zaazou and Hassan Muhammad Al-Zaazou and arrested others from the Rafah Sea.
The killing of Bakr raises serious concerns about the use of excessive force by the Egyptian Navy and stresses the need for transparent and independent investigations to identify those responsible for this incident and bring them to justice.
This incident calls for the importance of respecting the right of Palestinian fishermen to practice their marine activities safely and freely and without being threatened and violated. Such repeated crimes require urgent action from the international community to ensure the safety of Palestinian families and trial for perpetrators of these crimes.
