The Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) for the third day in a row continue to detain the body of a Palestinian fisherman who was killed by the Israeli navy on Sunday while sailing off Gaza shore.
The family of the fisherman Ismail Abu Ryala 18 said that they have no information about their son’s body and whether the Israeli authorities intend to release it for burial.
Saleh Abu Ryala Ismail’s father in statements to Quds Press accused the IOA of attempting to hide the evidence of the crime committed against his son by holding his body for three consecutive days.
Abu Ryala appealed to international and human rights organizations to pressure Israel to hand over his body’s son and not to transfer him to the “cemeteries of numbers” where hundreds of Palestinian martyrs are being held.
For his part director of central operations at the Palestinian Borders and Crossings Authority Maher Abu al-Ouf said “There is no Israeli decision yet to release Abu Ryala’s body. We have been given so many promises without any actual step on the ground.”
Activist Zakaria Baker said that Israel’s procrastination in releasing Abu Ryala’s body falls in line with a thinly veiled attempt to hide the evidence of the crime especially that Ismail was shot from a close distance while he was sleeping according to his cousin who accompanied him on the boat.
Baker affirmed that Israel also wants to avoid any media uproar that might emerge when the body is released.
The Israeli occupation forces’ almost daily targeting of Palestinian fishermen is added to an endless series of violations committed by Israel against the Gaza Strip since the signing of a ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian resistance and Israel in August 2014 under Egyptian auspices.
The Oslo Accords signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel in 1993 allows fishermen to sail within 20 nautical miles off the shores of the Gaza Strip but Israel had reduced the fishing area to six nautical miles only.
