The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) attacked on Tuesday evening Palestinian fishermen and their boats off the northern coast of the beleaguered Gaza Strip.
The fishermen syndicate in Gaza said that Israeli gunboats chased and opened fire at fishing boats during their presence within a few nautical miles off the shores of different areas in northern Gaza.
For his part a reporter for the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) said that fishing boats in northern Gaza waters were attacked with machinegun fire and tear gas canisters and forced to return ashore.
No one was reportedly hurt in the IOF attack.
Israeli naval forces and their 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 but since then Israel has kept reducing the fishing area gradually to a limit between six to three nautical miles as part of its blockade on Gaza.
Fishermen and human rights groups also say that since the 2008-09 war in Gaza the Israeli army has been regularly enforcing a limit even closer to the shore.
