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Update: Nov 3, 2016

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities once again postponed the expansion the northern besieged Gaza Strip’s fishing zone on Thursday, pushing it back three days.

The head of the media unit at the public committee of the Civil Affairs Ministry, Muhammad al-Maqadma, told Ma’an that Israel decided to postpone the expansion of the fishing zone from six to nine nautical miles to Sunday.

Israeli authorities had previously postponed the temporary expansion on Oct. 30, citing poor weather.

Israeli authorities have planned to expand the fishing zone off the northern Gaza coast for the duration of the month of November, with Israeli officials indicating that the extension could be effective for an additional month “if the Palestinian side maintains calmness at the maritime boundaries.”

Israel previously extended the fishing zone off Gaza’s southern coast to nine miles on April 3, before reducing it again to six miles on June 6, then re-extending the zone for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan due to an “abundance of fish” at the time.

As part of Israel's blockade off the coastal enclave since 2007, Palestinian fishermen have been required to work within a limited "designated fishing zone."

The exact limits of the zone are decided by the Israeli authorities and have historically fluctuated, most recently extended to six nautical miles from three, following a ceasefire agreement that ended Israel's 2014 offensive on the Palestinian territory.

However, the fishing zone was technically set to 20 nautical miles according to the Oslo Accords signed between Israel and the PA in the early 1990s.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights has reported that Israeli naval forces often open fire on fishermen within these limits, putting their lives in danger on a near-daily basis.

Due to the high frequency of the attacks, live fire on fishing boats often goes unreported.

Last year Israeli naval forces opened fire on Palestinian fishermen at least 139 times, killing three, wounding dozens, and damaging at least 16 fishing boats.

The Israeli army often says in such circumstances that the use of live fire is necessary to deter potential "security threats,” a policy that has in effect destroyed much of the agricultural and fishing sectors of the blockaded Palestinian enclave.




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Israel To Temporarily Expand Gaza’s Fishing Zone To Nine Nautical Miles

by IMEMC News Oct 30, 2016

The Israeli Authorities have decided, Tuesday, to expand the fishing zone allotted for Palestinian fishers in the besieged Gaza Strip to nine nautical miles instead of six, during the fishing season. The expansion still falls short of the twenty nautical miles set in the Oslo agreement.

The Coordinator of Israeli Government Activities at the Occupied Territories, Major General Yoav “Poli” Mordechai, along with the Navy Commander and the Military commander in the southern region, have decided to expand the fishing zone to nine miles during the fishing season.

Mordechai said that the new decision takes effects starting next Tuesday November 1st 2016 for two months, to reduce what he called “violations of the naval zone, and “to help expand the fishing industry in the Gaza Strip” as it is the only source of livelihood to thousands of Palestinians.

He added that similar moves were taken in April and May of this year, yielding a %15 increase in Gaza’s fishing production, compared to 2015.

The Israeli navy continuously opens fire on Gaza fishers and their boats in Palestinian territorial waters in the coastal region, and frequently kidnaps the fishers and confiscates their boats.

Such attacks have led to dozens of casualties, including several fatalities among the fishers, in addition to dozens of injuries, and serious property damage.

Israel repeatedly expands and reduces the fishing zone in Gaza, from three to six then to nine, and back to three or six, while the Oslo agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization clearly set the fishing zone in the Gaza Strip to twenty nautical miles.