The captain of the fishermen in Gaza: Israeli escalation targeting the economy of the maritime sector… Arresting workers and seizing boats

The head of the Fishermen’s Syndicate in the Gaza Strip, Nizar Ayyash, said that there has been an Israeli escalation against Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip in recent days, as part of a series of provocative actions carried out by Israel recently.
He added, in statements to “Sputnik”, that Israel increases or decreases from time to time its exposure and restrictions on Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Sea, according to the prevailing conditions, which has increased its pace during the past two days.
He said that yesterday, Friday, Israel detained two boats carrying 4 fishermen, before releasing them in the evening, while this morning, Saturday, it arrested two fishermen, confiscated their boat and took it to the port of Ashdod.
Ayyash explained that Israel aims from these measures to restrict the fishermen to put pressure on the Gaza Strip and Palestine, given that the fishermen work in the Gaza sea under the complete control of Israel.
He stressed that Israel always arrests fishermen and confiscates their boats, in addition to preventing the entry of spare parts or materials from which boats are made into Gaza, in order to rob the means of livelihood and exhaust this economically weak segment.
He revealed that Israel targets fishermen in Gaza whenever any problem erupts, due to the importance of the Gaza sea file, and that it represents a large segment of the population, as 4,500 fishermen work in the fishing sector, who support 50,000 people, and participate largely in the economic security of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
He considered that the Israeli measures are a kind of pressure that all segments of Palestinian society are subjected to, in light of the importance of the maritime sector with the absence of other work areas in the Gaza yard, stressing that Israel wants to cause an economic and social imbalance in the Strip and destroy all segments of Palestinian society.
Two days ago, Israeli boats targeted the fishing boats off the Gaza Sea.
According to local sources and eyewitnesses in Gaza, Israeli boats stationed at sea attacked the fishermen’s boats and opened sewage pumps towards them, forcing them to leave, according to local Palestinian newspapers.
Israel imposes strict restrictions on the work of fishermen off the coast of the Gaza Sea, under the pretext of combating smuggling attempts by sea, as part of its siege imposed on the Strip since mid-2007.
The number of fishermen in the Gaza Strip is about 4,000 fishermen working on more than 700 boats, while about 70,000 people live from fishing and selling fish, according to official Palestinian statistics.