GAZA, March 1, 2016 (WAFA) – Israeli military Tuesday attacked with gunfire Palestinian fishermen offshore Gaza, as well as farmers working tending to their land near the Israel−Gaza security border barrier, according to local sources.
WAFA correspondent said Israeli navy opened heavy machine gunfire on fishermen’s boats, forcing them to flee the sea for fear of being detained, inured, or killed.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces opened machine gunfire at Palestinian farmers and civilians along the southern Gaza Strip borders. However, no casualties were reported.
Israeli navy targets Gaza fishermen and farmers along the borderline almost on a daily basis, in a blatant breach of a ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and armed Palestinian groups in august 2014, following 51 days of bloody aggression on the Gaza Strip, which claimed the lives of over 2.200 Palestinians, mostly civilians.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) says that all Israeli attacks on Palestinian fishermen have taken place within the distance of six nautical miles, which “proves that Israeli forces‘ policies aim to tighten restrictions on the Gaza Strip‘s fishermen and their livelihoods.”
According to OCHA weekly report covering the period between 16 and 22 of February 2016 , “At least 21 incidents involving Israeli forces opening warning fire at Palestinian civilians in the Access Restricted Areas (ARA) on land and sea in the Gaza Strip were recorded, none of which resulted in casualties.”
According to a report published on February 2016 by the Israeli human rights center, B’Tselem, “In Dec. 2015-Jan. 2016 five Palestinians were shot dead by the military near the Gaza perimeter fence, when protests were underway there.”
In October and November of 2015, B’Tselem documented 14 instances in which Palestinians were killed under similar circumstances.
B’Tselem noted the chain of events indicates that in all cases documented, soldiers used live fire instead of crowd control measures.
“ Live fire may be used only when soldiers face immediate mortal danger and when there is no other way to avert this danger.”
However, in the demonstrations in which the four Palestinians were killed, the soldiers were some distance away from the protestors, on the other side of the border fence, and they clearly were not in mortal danger, certainly not a danger that could not be prevented by other means, said the center.
“The four were killed as a result of excessive, unlawful use of live gunfire, for which no one has been held accountable.”
M.N./T.R.
