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Israeli naval forces on Thursday detained two Palestinian fishermen off the coast of the blockaded Gaza Strip, according to a local official.
“The two fishermen were picked up off the strip’s northern coast,” Nizar Ayyash, head of Gaza's fishermen’s union, told Anadolu Agency.
The Israeli authorities, for their part, have yet to comment on the reported incident.
Roughly 50,000 Gazans earn their living through fishing, according to the fishermen’s union.
The Israeli authorities have referred a Palestinian author -- who is already serving a life prison sentence -- to trial for writing a children’s book. According to Israeli media reports, Palestinian prisoner/author Walid Daka will be tried Wednesday evening at Israel’s Megiddo Prison for writing the book. Daka is already serving out a life prison sentence after having been convicted for abducting and killing an Israeli soldier in 1984. Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri has reportedly banned the sale of the book -- entitled “The Story of the Oil Secret” -- in Daka’s hometown of Baka al-Garbiyeh in northern Israel. Settlers attack Palestine school in West Bank: OfficialAccording to Daka’s family, the book was issued with the approval of the Israel Prison Service, which later claimed that it never approved it. Daka is a Palestinian writer and researcher who managed to earn a Master's Degree in political science during his many years behind bars. His 96-page book tells the story of a child who wants to visit his father in prison, but can’t do so because of the draconian restrictions imposed by Israel’s occupation. The child eventually manages to enter the prison by hiding inside an olive tree.But instead of using the tree’s special sap to leave the prison again, he gives it to other children who cannot go to school because of Israeli restrictions.Jewish settlers vandalize Palestinian cars in West Bank
Israel refers prisoner to trial for writing kids' book
After Israel's devastating 2014 military onslaught on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip (which left more than 2,150 Palestinians dead), Israel began to allow Palestinian fishermen to ply their trade up to six nautical miles off the coast (as opposed to three previously).
In May of this year, Israel increased this to nine nautical miles.
One month later, however, Israel reduced this again to only three nautical miles in response to the launching of incendiary kites and balloons into Israel by Palestinian activists in Gaza.
The kite/balloon attacks came as part of ongoing Palestinian rallies along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone to protest Israel’s 12-year blockade of the coastal enclave.
Since the rallies -- which have continued on an almost-daily basis -- began on March 30, more than 190 Palestinians have been martyred by Israeli troops deployed along the other side of the buffer zone.