The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested five Palestinian fishermen off the coast of the Gaza Strip during a series of chases and gunfire as they attempted to fish west of Gaza City and in the central region of the Strip. This comes as part of ongoing assaults targeting fishermen and their boats.
Zakaria Bakr, coordinator of the Fishermen’s Committees at the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, stated that Israeli warships carried out direct attacks on fishing boats, including heavy gunfire and the confiscation of boats and equipment, resulting in the arrest of five fishermen from two different areas.
He explained that the occupation forces attacked fishing boats west of Al-Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza City using machine guns, arresting two brothers, Zuhair Ahmad Muhaysin and Muhammad Ahmad Muhaysin.
Three other fishermen, Imad Jalal Al-Qar’an, Ahmad Al-Masar’i, and Muhammad Salah, were arrested off the coast of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza following a direct chase and heavy gunfire at sea. Their boats were also confiscated.
According to available data, the number of Palestinian fishermen currently detained in Israeli prisons has risen to 33, amid an ongoing systematic policy targeting fishermen and denying them safe access to the sea or the ability to work, even during full lockdowns imposed on the Strip.
The Israeli occupation imposes a full maritime blockade on Gaza, preventing Palestinian fishermen from engaging in what is fundamentally a civilian profession with no military nature. According to the core principles of armed conflict, the sea is considered a civilian space and should not be turned into a zone of collective punishment or continuous targeting.
The arrest of fishermen during their work, the firing upon them, and the confiscation of their boats and tools constitute a clear violation of the principle of civilian protection, undermines the right to work and livelihood, and breaches the principle of proportionality, which prohibits extensive harm to civilians under vague or general security pretexts.
The blanket and ongoing restrictions on fishing, without individual assessments, effectively deprive thousands of families of their sole source of income. This falls under collective punishment practices, which are prohibited due to their severe humanitarian and economic repercussions.
Since the start of the genocide in October 2023, around 5,000 Palestinian fishermen have been deprived of work, as the sea has been turned into a permanent danger zone. Just this past Sunday, a Palestinian fisherman succumbed to his wounds, raising the number of fishermen killed since the beginning of the war to 232, including 67 who were killed while attempting to fish.
This forms part of a continuous pattern of targeting that goes beyond arrests or gunfire to include the destruction of livelihoods, confiscation of boats, and denial of access to the sea, deepening Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and exacerbating the economic collapse in a community where fishing is a vital means of survival.
