Navy fired on fishing boat from Gaza that loaded cargo in Egypt
Boat was followed and fired upon when it would not stop on its return journey to Gaza.
By JPOST.COM STAFFPalestinians stand atop a boat at Gaza's seaport in Gaza City October 16(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Israel Navy fired on a fishing boat that left Gaza on Sunday and loaded cargo in Egypt, the IDF Spokesperson's office said. The boat was followed upon its return journey to Gaza and the forces identified that it had taken on goods. The forces ordered the boat to stop but when it continued to travel they opened fire and hit the boat. Israel enforces a 6 km offshore fishing zone adjacent to the Gaza coast. Last month, one Palestinian on board a fishing boat was lightly injured when the Navy fired on another Gazan fishing boat in a similar incident. The Israel Navy has intercepted multiple attempts to smuggle material into Gaza for the purpose of manufacturing weapons since end of the Gaza war in August, a senior navy commander told The Jerusalem Post last month.Cmdr. Eli Soholitzki has commanded the navy's Squadron 916 for two years, and is about to take command of Squadron 32 - a missile ship formation - that secures the northern naval sector.Squadron 916, the largest formation in the Israel Navy, is responsible for defending the whole of the southern Mediterranean naval sector, from Ashdod to the Gaza Strip, and was heavily involved in the 50-day conflict with Hamas and Islamic Jihad last summer.Hamas in Gaza is continuing to fire rockets into the Mediterranean Sea periodically, as part of its weapons upgrade program, and the launches are used by Hamas arms designers to experiment with various projectile models. The Israel Navy monitors those launches closely.Yaakov Lappin contributed to this report.
