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Israeli naval authorities on Friday arrested three Palestinian fishermen off the coast of the Gaza Strip, according to a Palestinian source.
The fishermen were detained while plying their trade off the strip’s northern coast, Nizar Ayyash, head of Gaza’s fishermen’s union, told Anadolu Agency.
The fishermen’s boat, he added, had also been seized by the Israeli Navy.
As of 8:00 GMT, no comment had been issued regarding the incident by the Israeli authorities.
Extremist Jewish settlers on Friday raided a Palestinian village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where they vandalized several vehicles, according to a Palestinian official.Ghassan Daghlas, head of the settlement file at the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, told Anadolu Agency by phone that a group of settlers had stormed the village of Asira al-Qibliya south of Nablus, where they slit the tires of 20 Palestinian-owned vehicles.Extremist Jewish settlers stage frequent attacks on Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank.According to Israeli estimates, some 430,000 Israeli Jews currently live on settlements throughout the West Bank. Another 220,000 live in settlements in East Jerusalem, a large number of which were built without Israeli government approval.Hamas seeks Palestinian unity not division: Leader
Jewish settlers raid Palestinian village in West Bank
Some 50,000 Gazans earn their living through fishing, according to the fishermen’s union.
Following Israel's 2014 military onslaught on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip (which left more than 2,150 Palestinians dead), Israel began allowing Gazan fishermen to ply their trade up to six nautical miles off the coast (as opposed to three previously).
In May of this year, the Israeli authorities increased this to nine nautical miles.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to visit Bahrain "soon", his office announced Friday."The Kingdom of Bahrain is the next destination for Netanyahu," Hani Marzouk, a spokesman for the Prime Minister's office for Arab media, told the Israeli Broadcast Authority."This visit is only a prelude for something bigger, for another Middle East," Marzouk said.The visit "is the start for new relations and an indication that we are on the right track to correct history," he said.Marzouk added: "Israel sees the Arab world is large, diverse and has rich human potential and it wants to establish great relations with it at the scientific and academic level."On Oct. 26, Netanyahu visited Oman upon an invitation by Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the first visit of its kind for an Israeli official in 22 years.Israel claims to break up Hamas 'cell' in West BankHamas seeks Palestinian unity not division: Leader
Israeli PM Netanyahu to visit Bahrain ‘soon’
One month later, however, Israel reduced the limit 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, which has brought Gaza -- and its two million inhabitants -- to the verge of humanitarian catastrophe.
Since the Gaza rallies began on March 30, more than 210 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops deployed along the other side of the buffer zone.
The Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, claims to have thwarted attempts by Palestinian resistance faction Hamas to set up “cells” in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. “Hamas had tasked operatives in Judea and Samaria with setting up a terror network in hopes of carrying out terror attacks inside Israel,” Shin Bet, using a Jewish term for the West Bank, said in a statement. The security agency went on to allege that the operatives had been taught “how to make explosives and select targets”. Hamas, for its part, which has governed the blockaded Gaza Strip since 2007, has yet to comment on the agency’s claims.Hamas seeks Palestinian unity not division: Leader
Israel claims to break up Hamas 'cell' in West Bank