Palestinian fisherman injured by Israeli naval fire

The fisherman, identified as Islam Murad, was injured by Israeli fire on Wednesday in the coastal waters west of Gaza.

He was the third fisherman to have been injured by Israeli forces in less than a week.

Tel Aviv declined to provide any explanation as to why its forces opened fire on the fisherman when asked by media in the occupied Palestinian territories about the incident.

Palestinian fishermen face almost daily military attacks and harassment by Israeli forces and also, according to Palestinians, from Egyptian naval forces.

On Monday, shortly after two Palestinian fishermen were shot injured by Israeli forces, Egyptian forces shot and injured another one, too.

Earlier this month, fishermen held a protest rally in front of the United Nations (UN) headquarters in Gaza to demand an end to the Israeli naval attacks. The Israeli navy targets fishermen in Gaza, depriving them of their source of livelihood.

Around 4,000 fishermen work in Gaza, with more than half of them living below the poverty line.

Under a ceasefire agreement reached between Israelis and Palestinians following a deadly 50-day Israeli war in July and August 2014, Tel Aviv agreed to immediately expand the fishing zone off Gaza’s coast, allowing fishermen to sail as far as six nautical miles off the shore.

Palestinian fishermen, however, say the Israeli navy opens fire on them before they reach the agreed limit.

Israel has been blockading the Gaza Strip since 2007, causing a decline in the standards of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty in the enclave.