The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) on Monday evening released a Palestinian fisherman after detaining him for three weeks with no guilt as he was working off the northern coast of the impoverished Gaza Strip.
According to the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) in Gaza fisherman Mu’men al-Numan had been kidnapped on January 9 along with five others but he was kept in detention while his friends were released soon later at the time.
Numan entered Gaza through the Beit Hanoun border crossing (Erez).
Israeli gunboats are around Gaza fishermen almost every day harassing them shooting at them damaging their boats and making arrests. Sometimes fishermen are injured or killed during gunfire attacks.
Under the 1993 Oslo accords Palestinian fishermen are permitted to fish up to 20 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza. Over the past 18 years however Israel has reduced the fishing area gradually to a limit of six to three nautical miles as part of its blockade on Gaza.
But fishermen and human rights groups say that since the 2008-09 war in Gaza the Israeli army has been regularly enforcing a limit even closer to the shore.
