Israeli naval vessels fired warning shots at Palestinian fishing boats carrying international human rights workers several kilometers off the coast of the Gaza Strip, the activists told The Daily Star on Tuesday. Upon leaving the Gaza City port early Monday, three Israeli gunboats began trailing the fishing convoy. The Gaza fisherman, accompanied by human rights activists from the Free Gaza movement, maintained their course. At 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) the Israeli presence became more pronounced, according to Donna Wallach of Free Gaza."Typically [the fisherman] can't get out past 3 to 6 miles," Wallach said, adding that the coastal Gaza fisheries have been heavily depleted because of over-fishing due to Israeli interference. "[But] we continued out to 9 miles, trawling up and down the Gaza coast."
"There were seven fishing boats in the convoy," she said, "and warning shots were fired at each boat. One boat was given seven so-called 'warning shots.'"
Wallach told The Daily Star that the fishing convoy contacted the Israeli vessels over a shared radio frequency to inform them that internationals were aboard the Palestinian boats, but that the warning shots continued. "They [the naval gunboats] came close; we could see their faces," she said. "They screamed 'khalass' in Arabic and 'Go back.'"
But the Gazans continued fishing, and according to Wallach had a very successful day. There were no injuries and no damage to the boats or their trawling equipment was reported.