The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said, today, Monday, that the Israeli occupation authorities ’closure of the sea of ​​the Gaza Strip will negatively affect the living conditions of 4,160 fishermen, and more than 700 people working in professions related to fishing, and they support about 27,700 family members.
The center said in a statement that these fishermen suffer mainly from the decision to close the sea, from their inability to freely exercise their work in the area in which they are allowed to sail as a result of the repeated attacks of the Israeli occupation forces, and the ban on the supply of equipment and supplies for fishermen, and as a result of this, hundreds of fishermen have become powerless. On providing the basic needs of their family members, such as food, medicine, clothes and education.
The Center considered that the decision falls within the framework of the comprehensive siege policy and the inhuman and illegal collective punishment imposed by the Israeli occupation forces on the Gaza Strip.
The center said that preventing fishermen from sailing and fishing in it permanently, as part of the policy of collective punishment against Palestinian civilians in the Strip, which aims in part to restrict fishermen and prevent them from practicing their work and freely accessing areas where fish are available.
He pointed out that the new Israeli decision would deepen the humanitarian and living crises in the Gaza Strip, especially raising unemployment, poverty and food insecurity.
The population of the Gaza Strip suffers from a dangerous increase in unemployment rates, reaching 45%, and by 217,100 unemployed workers, and among the youth, it rises to 63%.
More than half of the population of the Gaza Strip suffers from poverty, as data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics indicate that the prevalence of poverty among the population of the Gaza Strip is 53%, and more than 62.2% of the population of the Gaza Strip is classified as food insecure, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights affirmed that the Israeli decision to close the Gaza Strip sea affects the economic and social rights of Palestinian fishermen, and represents a violation of the right to work in accordance with Article VI of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and Israeli attacks against fishermen are a flagrant violation of the rules of international humanitarian law.
The center called on the occupying Israeli authorities to immediately reverse the decision to close the sea, and to enable fishermen to practice their work freely, especially since they do not pose a threat to the occupying authorities, calling for an immediate end to the policy of pursuing fishermen, and to allow them to ride the sea and practice their work with complete freedom.
He called on the international community to put pressure on the occupying Israeli authorities to end the naval blockade, which led to the deterioration of the living conditions of fishermen and their families, and to stop the violations committed against Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip.
