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GAZA, (PIC)-- Israeli navy forces attacked and kidnapped seven Palestinian fishermen from Shati refugee camp to the northwest of Gaza city while fishing at sea off the coast of the Strip on Sunday.

Chief of the fishermen syndicate Nizar Ayyash said in a press release that the fishermen, all from one family, were fishing two nautical miles off the coast within the allowed Israeli range of three nautical miles.

He said that they were suddenly surrounded by Israeli navy gunboats and ordered to an Israeli port. He added that they were boarding two small fishing boats and that one of them was an old man.

Human rights groups had recorded a big number of Israeli violations of Palestinian fishermen’s rights during 2010 that included wounding some of them and arresting others in addition to confiscating 17 fishing boats.