The Israeli occupation navy on Sunday morning kidnapped four fishermen including two brothers after intercepting their boat off the northern coast of the besieged Gaza Strip.
Chief of the fishermen Nizar Ayyash told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that the four fishermen were working off the shore of al-Sudaniya area north of Gaza when Israeli gunboats opened fire around them encircled their boat and then rounded them up.
The detained fishermen are Fouad and Mohamed al-Sultan (brothers) Mohamed Zayed and Tareq Abdul-Bari. All of them were taken to Ashkelon port for interrogation.
Ayyash appealed to the international community to intervene and pressure Israel to end its violations against the Gaza fishermen especially since they are exposed to constant arrests maltreatment and extortion.
Israeli gunboats are around Gaza fishermen on daily basis 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 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 regularly enforces a limit even closer to the shore.
