From the center of the Shati Refugee Camp to the west of Gaza City young fisherman Abdullah Zeidan 33 went to Rafah city on Friday seeking his livelihood to support his family and parents. He went to Rafah city to the south of Gaza Strip to evade the Israeli navy that chases Palestinian fishing boats in the sea of Gaza.
Despite the fisherman’s attempts to survive it only took his family and children 24 hours to receive the shocking news that Zeidan was shot by the Egyptian navy despite his promise to return home with some food to feed his family.
After a failed attempt by the medical staff at the Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital in the southern Gaza Strip the young fisherman Abdullah Ramadan Zeidan 33 lost his life after a bullet hit his chest which was fired at him by the Egyptian navy on Friday night 12/1/2018 while fishing off the Rafah coast.
The Ministry of Health announced on Saturday morning the death of Zeidan after he succumbed to the fatal wounds inflicted on him by the Egyptian navy forces.
Painful farewell!
In the cemetery of Sheikh Radwan west of Gaza City the father of martyr Ramadan Zeidan sat crying bidding farewell to his son after raising and teaching him the fishing profession since he was a young boy.
The father of the martyr told the PIC “My son was raised on fishing since childhood” asserting that his son was a peaceful fisherman looking for his livelihood.
The father’s friend Abu Muhammad tried to alleviate his suffering by saying: “God will reward you” as the father kept repeating: “The boy has gone the boy has gone.”
The father wondered why his son was shot and killed; adding that he never caused harm to anyone and did not cross the Palestinian-Egyptian sea borders.
“My peaceful son was killed without committing any crime” he told the PIC reporter with teary eyes adding “To God we belong and to him we shall return.”
He went on saying “They (Egyptian forces) shoot at Palestinian fishermen every day. They don’t care if the fisherman is Muslim even they cause no harm to Israelis when they enter their territories.”
The martyr fisherman!
The martyr’s brother told the PIC that his brother was working at the sea and it is God’s willing for his life to end.
The brother of the martyr could not control his tears insisting that “He was targeted by the Egyptian navy. Thanks God he was honored with martyrdom.”
The Egyptian army continuously targets fishing boats operating off the Palestinian coasts although they do not cross the Egyptian-Palestinian borders.
Commenting on the martyrdom of the fisherman Zeidan Palestinian Fishermen Union’s head Nizar Ayyash appealed in a special statement to the PIC for the Palestinian government “to contact the Egyptian authorities to open an investigation into the shooting of Zeidan.”
In the same context preliminary investigations of the Ministry of Interior in Gaza revealed that the Palestinian fishing boat was shot at by the Egyptian army which led to the martyrdom of a fisherman without crossing the Egyptian border.
The fisherman Abdullah Ramadan Zeidan 33 was killed near the Egyptian-Palestinian maritime border while working at sea the interior ministry said in a statement on Saturday (13/1/2018).
The Ministry demanded the Egyptian authorities to open an investigation into the martyrdom of the fisherman confirming that its preliminary investigations confirmed that the fishing boat did not cross the Egyptian maritime border.
