Palestine Information Center – 15/09/2013
GAZA — The Egyptian naval forces opened fire on Saturday evening at Palestinian fishermen and physically assaulted two of them during an incursion into the territorial waters of the Gaza Strip.
Dean of the Gazan fishermen Nizar Ayyash told the Palestinian information center that Egyptian naval soldiers detained fisherman Omar Bardawil, 40, along with his son Ziyad, 13, and brutally beat him before confiscating the outboard motor of his boat.
Ayyash said this incident was the second of its kind after the Egyptian navy had wounded two weeks ago two Gazan fishermen and kidnapped five others during an armed attack on them in Gaza territorial waters.
He expressed his grave concern that the Egyptian army started to follow the steps of its Israeli counterpart and engage in hostile practices against the fishermen of Gaza.
The Gazan fishermen confirmed that two Egyptian gunboats entered the Gaza territorial waters and started to shoot them at close range during their presence near Rafah port before capturing and assaulting Ayyash and his son off the coast.
For its part, the Hamas Movement strongly denounced the Egyptian navy for violating the Palestinian maritime borders and launching a wanton attack on Gazan fishermen.
“The Hamas Movement deplores the opening of fire at Palestinian fishermen inside the Palestinian waters by Egyptian naval boats and the detention of some of them,” its spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri stated in a press release.