The zionist occupation army attacked on Saturday evening Palestinian fishermen and their boats off the southern coast of the besieged Gaza Strip.

According to local sources, Zionist regime’s gunboats opened machinegun fire at fishing boats during their presence within a few nautical miles off the shores of Khan Yunis and Rafah in southern Gaza.

No one was reportedly hurt in the attack, which forced the fishing boats to return ashore.

Zionist naval forces and their gunboats are around Gaza fishermen almost every day, harassing them, shooting at them, damaging their boats, and making arrests. Sometimes fishermen are injured or killed during gunfire attacks.

Under the 1993 Oslo accords, Palestinian fishermen are permitted to fish up to 20 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza, but since then zionist occupation regime has kept reducing the fishing area gradually to a limit between six to three nautical miles as part of its blockade on Gaza.

Fishermen and human rights groups also say that since the 2008-09 war in Gaza, the zionist army has been regularly enforcing a limit even closer to the shore. (ILKHA)