Israeli Navy Captures Gaza Fishermen for Violating ‘Blockade’

At Least One Boat Reported Sunk in Move

The Israeli Navy has attacked a pair of fishing boats from the Gaza Strip today, saying they went outside of the new “expanded” fishing zone. Gaza’s Interior Ministry confirmed the incident, saying that nine men were captured and at least one fishing boat was sunk.

Israel has long imposed a 5 km limit on Gaza fishermen, which given the sandy shores around the strip has made the area of limit commercial value. Since last week’s Gaza War, the area was expanded to 10 km.

10 km is certainly better, but Gaza fishermen note that the sardine fishing areas remain outside of even the new limit, and during sardine season the areas further out to sea remain, it seems, off-limits to Palestinian boats.

Israel’s blockade has long made an effort to limit calories available to Gazans to the bare minimum to prevent starvation. Since the war, the expansion of the available fishing grounds as well as farmland in eastern Gaza.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.