The Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) put out a call on Tuesday to international organizations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) demanding that Israel return the body of a teenage Palestinian fisherman to his family in Gaza.
18-year-old Ismail Saleh Abu Reyala was shot and killed by Israeli forces on Sunday while sailing off the northern coast of the Gaza Strip.
This is Ismail Abu-Reyalah, a young #Palestinian fisherman who was killed earlier today by the Israeli navy. pic.twitter.com/5GepTKMVs4
— Tomazy ?? (@_tomazy) February 26, 2018
Reyala was sailing with Mahmoud Adel Abu Reyala, who was injured with a bullet to the chest, and Ahed Abu Ali, when their boat came under fire after it allegedly “deviated from the designated fishing zone,” according to the Israeli army.
Palestinian fisherman Ismail Abu Rialeh, 18 years old, who was shot dead by Israeli occupation forces. pic.twitter.com/u4ObceOiMU
— Muhammad Smiry – Gaza (@MuhammadSmiry) February 25, 2018
The boat was seized by Israeli forces, and the two men were released after hours of detention, while Reyala’s body was kept by authorities.
“It is the fundamental right of the fisherman’s family and his relatives to know the fate of their son,” the group said, adding “it is their basic right to receive his body and bury him.
UAWC issued this month its annual report for 2017 detailing Israeli attacks against Palestinian fishermen in the besieged Gaza Strip, highlighting that “these attacks deny fishermen from practicing their fishing work and accessing their livelihood resources.”
Israeli naval forces have killed an 18-year-old Palestinian fisherman, Ismail Saleh Abu Reyal, after opening fire on a fishing boat off the coast of the blockaded and occupied Gaza Strip. https://t.co/MoznpVN6xQhttps://t.co/sWygqfD0oc pic.twitter.com/OaNoiXvdFn
— Ben White (@benabyad) February 25, 2018
The report states that Israeli forces carried out shooting operations and chased down the fishermen hundreds of times, even while inside the designated fishing zone, “causing dozens of casualties as well as destroying and confiscating boats and fishing gears.”
Israeli human rights group B’Tselem recently concluded that Israel’s Gaza closure and “harassment of fishermen” have been “destroying Gaza’s fishing sector,” with 95 percent of fishermen living below the poverty line.
(Maan, PC, Social Media)
